CNS

Eliminating illicit tobacco trade is a step towards #EndTobacco and SDGs

Ending tobacco use globally is not just a compelling public health imperative but is also key for social justice and corporate accountability. Let us not forget that each of the diseases caused by tobacco could have been prevented, and every tobacco-related death averted. Add to this that every health condition that increases the risk of serious outcomes of Covid-19, also has a common major risk factor - tobacco. With over 8 million deaths worldwide caused by tobacco every year, the writing on the wall is clear: if we are to deliver on sustainable development goals, then one of the essential milestones undoubtedly is to #endtobacco.

Should not a medicine that has shown lifesaving effect in certain cases of Covid-19 be made available to all those who need it without delay? Even if Big Pharma has a patent, there are provisions in the global trade treaties that allow governments to issue compulsory licenses to such a lifesaving drug, and keep people over profit. This is why medical experts are demanding governments to use compulsory licensing for generic production of such a drug to help save lives.

[video] Agricultural scientist and farmers' movement activist Inderjit Singh's talk

[video] Social harmony | Fridays for Khudai Khidmatgars

Join us on 8th April: Gender, society and the Indian law

watch the recording (YouTube, Facebook)

[video] Farmers' movement to demand legal guarantee of minimum support price is key to food sovereignty: Dr Sandeep Pandey

[video] Messenger of solidarity and peace Faisal Khan speaks in Satyagraha

Unless we end inequities, we will fail to achieve Health For All

“Everyone is trying to apply the human rights lens. But unfortunately on key matters of equity, a lot many communities right now are in the rear-view mirror and not being observed through the lens of equity and human rights. This pandemic is uneven around the world and uneven in its impact. It has peeled away the bandages from old wounds of our society and it has also revealed and driven new equities. We are not doing a good job in ensuring that the basic human rights approaches are being upheld- right to access to health, right to personal dignity. In some cases Covid-19 has been used as a means of denying people their rights. Yes, we have seen great examples of community resilience and people and CSOs coming together in solidarity to fight this epidemic. But, if we are to give grades on how we are doing in leaving no one behind right now we get an F” said Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies Programme, who also leads the team responsible for international containment and treatment of Covid-19.