Hugues Fongang: Prevention for All
For the first time ever, individuals and communities across the world will have the opportunity to clearly express their right to health.
The Global Vote organized by Article 25 from January 1st to February 28th, 2015, will allow anyone to participate, no matter your location, your origin, or your sex. It will be a unique moment to have your voice and define your priorities related to health.
Neither the great speeches nor promises have been fulfilled.
Our younger brothers and sisters continue to die because they lack primary basic healthcare services. It’s unbelievable the number of miles we still need to cross to see a specialist in an emergency. We are in the 21st century and our mothers still give birth at home, lacking simple community health centers. Some regions have them, but you can’t go there because of high costs, long waits, and much corruption.
The ebola crisis that continues to kill our brothers and sisters shows the darker side of global health management and reveals just how opaque these development institutions can be.
The Global Vote is a unique opportunity to denounce hidden agendas and show the direction to follow in order to achieve health for all.
We hope this vote will be a place for everyone to express themselves. This openness will not just stop there, because we hope individuals and communities will take back their choices and decisions to improve their health.
Here, people think that after a vote, they are just forgotten. But after the Global Vote, we will take action.
When I say the word “oppression” in my environment, it makes people fearful. No matter the issue in the community, oppression concerns claiming your basic rights. It’s very difficult to express or reveal what you feel in this community of too many oppressors.
Basic education in my community is supposed to be free of charge, but we denounce what really happens in public schools every year. Antiretroviral drugs are supposed to be cost-reduced to allow all infected people to undergo treatment. But the real cost of drugs can differ even within the same town, and sometimes drugs are unavailable for many long weeks.
I believe that prevention strategies are neglected and not really put into effect before community health issues arise. We all know that prevention is just as important as treatment to prevent the root causes of health issues.
Prevention costs for governments and families are far less expensive than curative costs.
I hope the concept of “Prevention4ALL” will be one of the main axes chosen by the movement for better and healthier lives for all citizens around the globe.
Participate in the 2015 Global Vote today: join25.org/vote
This article is written by Hugues Fongang, a right to health advocate from Douala, Cameroon. Edited by Sarah Jean Horwitz.
Help us pilot the Global Vote by contributing to our crowdfunding page: http://igg.me/at/globalvote/.
