Today, April 7, is World Health Day, in commemoration of the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1948.

On April 5, the Council for Health and Development together with other health organizations held a protest action in front of WHO Western Pacific Region office in Manila to reject the neoliberal policies imposed on health by the Marcos Jr.-Duterte administration and its foreign allies, to urge the government to uphold the people’s right to health and to call for a free, comprehensive, national health system.

The current situation of our health care system has further deteriorated following the COVID-19 pandemic. Marginalized people still do not have access to basic health services, communities especially in the rural areas still lack of health facilities, and health workers continue to be underpaid and overworked. The government’s lack of substantial support in public health, imposition of neoliberal policies, including privatization and devolution perpetuates ill-health and pushes the health system further into critical condition.

Community health workers, doctors, nurses, and other health professionals fighting for the right to health and serving basic health services in the countryside are under attack and subjected to harassment, red-tagging, and extrajudicial killings. We will never forget Zara Alvarez and Dr. Mary Rose Sancelan who continued to serve the marginalized amidst threats to their lives — until they were both summarily executed in 2020 by suspected elements of the State armed forces.

The budget cut on health also hinders the people’s right to accessible health services. Instead of prioritizing the people’s health, billions of pesos were instead allotted to confidential and intelligence funds of Pres. Marcos Jr. and Vice Pres. Duterte. The PhilHealth’s budget was increased, the country’s health insurance corporation with history of corruption and scandal.

On World Health Day 2024, we enjoin everyone to assert the people’s right to health, to fight social injustices and demand government responsibility, and to struggle for a free, comprehensive, national health system. ##