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The Public Health Resource Network (PHRN), the Peoples’ Health Movement (PHM-Global), Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA), World Public Health Nutrition Association (WPHNA), Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation (NSF) and  International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) propose to organize a 3-day international conference on ‘Critical Public Health Consequences of the Double Burden of Malnutrition and the Changing Food Environment in South and South East Asia’ at India International Centre, New Delhi on 28-30 March. The conference is designed to raise and debate important issues that underlie the high levels of malnutrition and the technical, social and programmatic aspects of double burden in the world. Broad areas such as Right to Food, Global Trade and Nutrition, Agricultural Crisis,Land Reforms, NCDs & Obesity Public Health/Nutrition interventions, Nutrition Governance and Conflicts of Interest, role of Peoples movements. Deadline for submission/receiving Application Forms: 15th January, 2018. Please submit this form online or and mail it to: nutriconference18@gmail.com Click here to access the CALL FOR PARTICIPATION and SUBMISSION OF ABSRACTS/POSTERS Click here for further information on SUBMISSION OF ABSRACTS/POSTERS click here to download the application form

We, the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, strongly and unequivocally condemn the brutal killing of Gauri Lankesh, renowned activist-journalist and editor of the Lankesh Patrike. Gauri Lankesh’s was an unwavering voice against the communal, casteist, gendered and in particular the Hindutva forces. Read the JSA press statement here

We urge the UP government to reflect upon the criminally negligent systemic underpinnings of the Gorakhpur tragedy rather than vilify a doctor who has been upheld by the people who were present on those fateful days as possibly the only hero attempting to assist the poor families of dying patients in whatever manner he could. Read the complete letter here

Jan Swasthya Abhiyan decries the inhuman attitude of the Gujarat government in risking the lives of thousands people in the Narmada Valley, by closing the gates of the Sardar Sarovar dam on 17th June when the rehabilitation of the dam-affected people has not been at all completed. read the complete statement here

A convention was held at Kisan Bhavan, Chandigarh on the 16th of July. objective of the meeting was to discuss the issues of Right to Health, National Health Policy 2017 and interventions by JSA activists. This meeting saw attendance from JSA Punjab,JSA Haryana, JSA Himachal Pradesh, trade unions, farmers unions and civil society groups. Full report of this convention can be read here

Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (Peoples Health Movement-India) along with many like minded organisations took part in protests, workshops and a convention against the RCEP trade agreement and voiced its support to defend the rights of people. To know more about PHM at the anti RCEP events in Hyderabad, click  here

The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) expresses deep shock at the murder of Zafar Hussain, a 55 year old social worker of Pratapgarh in Rajasthan. Zafar Hussain was publicly lynched in a frenzy by Municipal employees linked to the government’s ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ (SBA), led according to Press reports by Nagar Parishad Commissioner Ashok Jain.  Zafar Hussain’s only crime was that he objected to the photographing of women defecating in the open. Those being photographed included the victim’s wife and 14 year old daughter. Reports suggest that a massive cover up of the incident is being attempted and the perpetrators are yet to be apprehended.   Read the complete statement below. PRESS RELEASE: JSA demands an end to Vigilantism in the name of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

PHM members Amit Sengupta, Indranil Mukhopadyay, Manuj c Weerasinghe and Arjun Karki recently published an article on the privatisation of healthcare services in South Asia. This article was published on 11th April 2017 by British Medical journal. It reflects on how stagnant public investment in health in South Asia has seen a growth in private practice and may hamper efforts to enable universal health coverage in the region. Read the complete article here

Since the attack on resident doctor Rohan Mhamunkar in Dhule on March 12, there has been a spate of attacks on frontline doctors working in public hospitals across the state of Maharashtra. The government has treated this purely as a law and order problem. What has not been highlighted sufficiently in the public debate so far, is the correlation between understaffed and inadequately resourced public hospitals, and the growing discontent among patients seeking care in these hospitals. Read this analysis by Abhay Shukla.