Resisting privatization and marketization of health care: People’s Health Movement’s experiences from India, Philippines and Europe

Abstract

For the last three decades, health care systems have been put under severe pressure to adapt to a neoliberal world and incorporate market principles. The introduction of market-based instruments, increasing competition among health care providers, introducing health insurance financing systems to replace public provisioning of health, promoting individual responsibility for health and finally, the introduction of free market through privatisation, deregulation and decentralisation of health care have been some common elements seen globally. These reforms, undertaken under the guise of increasing efficiency, quality, competition and choice, have in fact harmed the physical, emotional and mental health of communities around the world and also contributed to a significant rise in inequities in health and healthcare access. They have weakened the public healthcare systems of countries and led to commercialisation of healthcare.

This article presents three case studies of resistance against commercialisation of health services by the People’s Health Movement (PHM) and associated networks. It hopes to contribute to the understanding on the way neoliberal reforms, which include those under Structural Adjustment Programmes and the Universal Health Coverage paradigm, have historically impacted country-level health systems and access of people to health care, and bring out lessons from the resistance against these reforms.