Brasília – In the sidelines of the World Social Forum, to take place in Belém, the capital of the state of Pará, between January 27th and February 1st, the third edition of the World Social Forum on Health should guarantee privileged space for questions connected to public health during the main meeting of social movements in the world. The minutes include access to health through universal public systems and even the impacts of the international financial crisis on the sector.
The event should bring together representatives of 30 countries between January 25th and 27th, according to the director of the Centre of Education and Popular Supply and one of the coordinators, Valdevir Both.
"We believe that another world is possible if all have the human right to health, access to a service, a system that may grant the right both to those who do and to those who do not have conditions to pay," he said, in reference to the "alter world" slogan of the World Social Forum.
The minister of Health, José Gomes Temporão, has already confirmed his participation in the opening of the meeting and should be in other debates during the event. The minister should present the Brazilian experience of the Unified Health System (SUS) for international health organisations. In the evaluation of Both, despite the problems, the system may be an alternative to private models of health services.
"Public systems are much more efficient and assist the population better. To guarantee the rights of all, the system must be public. The private system, although it has much stronger publicity, only supplies those who have money," he compared.
The breaking of medication patents, which in Both’s evaluation is fundamental for "sustainability" of universal health systems, should also be hailed by the 600 participants expected at the Health Forum.
"It is only possible to have a public health system accessible to all if we face this theme of patents. We have medication that is very expensive; the public system cannot depend on a patented process. There are already cases of teas that the population has been using for years and are now patented, there is the risk of this stilting the access to millenary popular knowledge," he said.
The activities of the World Social Forum on Health are going to be concentrated on the campus of the State University of Pará (UEPA).
*Translated by Mark Ament