The Foundation L’Alternativa, Esquerra Unida i Alternativa, the party of European Left, in collaboration with “DEMPEUS per la Salut Pública Salut”, have met in Barcelona to do a workshop on the subject “HEALTH AND SOCIAL DETERMINANTS IN EUROPE”.

“We have been able to evaluate, with a great coincidence of contributions of the different geographic, cultural and historical territories European, the present situation of degradation with regards to the right to the health, quality and accessibility losses and the increase of the inequalities. There is a flagrant commercialization of the sector, the quantitative and qualitative increase of the health sector privatizations; and the more and more aggressive presence of the corporative interests and profit with the consequent loss of quality of public services. 

The health comes determined by all the elements from social, economic and political character. The approach in health must be intersectorial and interdisciplinary following the recommendation of the WHO Commission of Social Determinants in Health.

As a collective position, the Declaration vindicates justice and the necessity of the viability of the following points”: The health, as it is defined by the WHO, is a right and not merchandise. We are then, considering the health as a fundamental and indispensable social objective that contributes to greater protection, promotion and guarantees of taking care of all the people. This is an inexcusable obligation of the governments. We have confirmed an objective lack of information systems and evaluation in the matter of health at level of the European territory. We vindicated the guarantee of the health protection and the universal access to the sanitary services in all territories of the UE. In order to make a careful and worthy assistance to any person who needs it. This benefit has to be guaranteed and carried out by the National and Public health System in every country. The financing should be necessarily generated by the diverse sources of the fiscal system of each country and of the EU. We deny that the public sector of health is not sustainable. WHO is prominent when it requests and it proposes the objective “to eliminate the inequalities in health, in one generation” anywhere in the world, also in Europe. We considered the inequalities in health as an indicating key of the social inequality, a damage that we must and we can surpass. To develop these objectives the social participation is essential. Health does not have borders, as the ecological and economic diseases and aggressions of the neoliberal policies do not have either. It is the entire planet globally that will emerge ahead or succumb in the company. Also in health we demanded analysis and practices that assume the situations on international scale and that do it with the priority of justice, fairness and solidarity between territories, but also between people.

Because of all this, it was PROPOSED to transfer and to use as a tool, as a concrete instrument, this declaration on an European scale, making possible the transaction and the management adapted in the pertinent instances, and in particular in the European Parliament, where we have the support showed by MEP’s represented in the GUE/UNL group, that will be able to use it for the interpellation of the rest of Groups represented, for a rising level of the conquers reached in all European territories.  

We can!  Of course we can, and in addition it is our duty!