The People’s Health Movement in Benin (PHM Benin) launched on Saturday, September 14, 2019 in Cotonou a Mini-IPHU on the theme: Culture, Health and Intersectionality.
The learning began with a minute of silence for Professor David Sanders, a tribute and the presentation of his books The Struggle for Health and Questioning the solution.
Twenty-two (22) people (most of them are community health workers and peer educators) took part in this People’s Health University, which aims to educate and mobilize young activists to advocate for better engagement (rhetoric, institutional, implementation, etc.) of policy-makers on economic, social and cultural rights. The mini-IPHU is part of the series launched by PHM Benin in 2018 to promote the Human Rights-Based Approach to programming as a strategy to tackle inequalities.
Health being linked to culture, habits and customs, religion, beliefs, the manipulation of the public opinion by the media and other influencers, the manipulation of influencers by political and economic powers, cultural heritage, the role of community health workers are all factors to be taken into account in public policies developing and implementing processes.
The learning includes the following twelve (12) sub-themes:
- Introduction to Culture and Health
- Crenshaw and the concept of intersectionality
- Culture, public policy and access to health
- Economic, social and cultural rights
- Human rights based Approach to programming
- The People’s Charter for Health and PHM’s commitments
- Global Governance and Health
- The vulnerability to be born and to be different
- The Struggle for Health: Medicine and the Politics of Underdevelopment by David Sanders
- Communicating the activism
- Protest songs
- Community Health
PHM West and Central Africa / PHM Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre 