People's Health Movement UK Newsletter February 2017

An update for health advocates across the UK

A welcome message from the PHM-UK working group

Since we last wrote to you some time ago a lot has happened both here in the UK and abroad. Events are rapidly evolving globally that together suggest many of the hardly fought achievements we saw in the 20th century for health equity may not have been so secure after all. 

We need now, as ever, a platform for communities, patients, academics, activists and those working in health to come together in advocating for change that shall create a sustainable and just world in which equity and human rights are protected for all.

This weekend, a new group assembled in London to discuss ways of organising to support this vision in solidarity with friends and partners in the global People's Health Movement (PHM - www.phmovement.org), a network of grassroots health activists organising worldwide since 2000 to promote health equity and social justice.

Over the coming weeks we shall be reinvigorating PHM-UK as a platform for change, with a new website, social media presence, and the development with other groups of a strategy for both community action and political engagement that can we believe alter some of the worrying trajectories we are seeing in policy and the political sphere.

Below are a number of events we would like to promote and opportunities to get involved with PHM-UK that we hope may interest many of you. If you have any other events or ideas, do get in touch at [email protected].

We hope you can join us on this journey and look forward to working with you.

Anna, Olivia, Penelope, Hannah, Elias, Natalie, Pauline, Mai, Ruth, Jonny and the PHM-UK Working Group
 

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. (Margaret Mead, 1901-1978)

PHM-Europe Coordinated Day of Action: This 7th April we shall stand with our friends in PHM across Europe in defiance of the wave of commercialisation & austerity being pursued by governments internationally. Get in touch if you want to pledge your support and check out their event page on Facebook.

Events

Do you want to support our network of health advocates? Do you have an idea for how PHM-UK can organise more effectively? We are always keen to hear from anyone who would like to strengthen our movement are are open to proposals however big or small.

If you would like to get more involved please get in touch. We are particularly keen to hear from those interested in the following opportunities:

Website developers
If you have any experience or interest in developing websites we'd love to hear from you! This can be as simple as updating the text content of our site regularly to more complex web design. E-mail us if this sounds like you!

Bloggers
Do you have a topic you would like to write about? Or a campaign you would like to highlight? Perhaps you just need to vent generally about health, politics and social injustice. We are looking for one-off or regular bloggers to be featured on our website. Drop us a line if you are interested along with your ideas for the blog.

Social media campaigners
Our Facebook and Twitter need regularly updating with content about events, news and other developments relating to health justice. If you would like to contribute to ensuring PHM-UK has a strong and active presence on social media get in touch right away!