STOP VACCINE APARTHEID Why is the U.S. government letting drug companies keep the vaccines our tax money paid to invent out of the hands of billions of poor people? Right now, billions of people in the Global South are not getting COVID or Monkeypox vaccines . Vaccine apartheid is an urgent racial justice issue that affects people everywhere . Allowing viruses to run rampant anywhere means millions more deaths and more deadly variants, at enormous cost to the global economy . We could have eradicated Monkeypox already, but the United States allowed millions of vaccine doses to expire, instead of sending where they were needed. ​ Vaccine development is funded by the public, but drug companies think they have a right to privatize the profits. Joe Biden, right now, already has the power to allow (and help!) countries manufacture the vaccines they need, instead of protecting drug company monopolies on the #PeoplesVaccines. SEND A POSTCARD TO THE WHITE HOUSE: Tell Joe Biden Why He Should Stand Up To Big Pharma and #Freethevaccine

PEOPLE'S PANDEMIC PREVENTION PLAN Stop COVID-19, Build Back Better, and Prevent the Pandemics of the Future Endorsed by 141 Members of Congress, 450 + organizations, 1,500 front-line health workers, and >125,000 people from 121 countries APRENDE MÁS More pandemics are coming—soon. Some will be more infectious. Some will be more deadly. Some will be both. As a result of globalization and climate change new outbreaks are almost exponentially accelerating. With six times more animal-to-human outbreaks in 2010 than in 1980, we stand to repeat this deadly cycle within the decade. ​ The time is short to apply the lessons of COVID-19 and enact the policies needed to prevent this nightmare from happening again.​ America needs the People's Pandemic Prevention Plan: ​ 1. A GLOBAL FUND TO PANDEMIC-PROOF THE PLANET FUNDING BOTTOM-UP, COUNTRY-OWNED, COMMUNITY-LED PANDEMIC PREVENTION PLANS R2H Action supports President Biden's call for a multilateral catalytic financing mechanism, and joins scores of coalition partners and 120 House Members to urge the President and Congress to leverage other donors by putting at least $2 billion on the table as seed funding for multilateral action to prevent pandemics at the source. Account after expert account demonstrate that as little as $20 billion annually, from all donor sources, would avert $20-$30 TRILLION in economic losses to a future pandemic—as well as save millions of lives. Fund country-owned, community-driven "National Pandemic Prevention Plans" in every low-income country and every middle-income country that is a zoonotic transmission hotspot. These plans should accomplish complementary, interlinked goals: post-spillover pandemic containment , and pre-spillover pandemic prevention . ​ Fully implement WHO’s International Health Regulations and updated Global Health Security Agenda priority actions within five years. Make direct investments in public-sector health systems, including labs, surveillance networks, equipment, supplies, and health workforce to detect, manage, and mitigate outbreaks where they start, before they spread. Finance regional, national, Indigenous and community-led action plans to prevent disease spillovers from animals to humans, focused on the primary upstream drivers of zoonotic transmission: deforestation, climate change, and wildlife trade. Prevent outbreaks at the source by funding community-based economic alternatives to climate change and deforestation in the top 500 zoonotic transmission hotspots, providing health care, jobs training and support for economic development activities less dangerous than palm oil plantations, strip mining, burning the Amazon, illegal logging, and wildlife trade. Supporting country incentives for conservation and reductions in forest degradation, protection of wildlife, and regulation of commercial live-animal markets, husbandry and trade.​​ Increase funds for other global health programs already addressing COVID and other critical pandemics on the ground, and meet Joe Biden’s commitment to “ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2025”, with increases for PEPFAR’s annual budget (flat-funded for years), and sustaining the U.S. contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to make up for ground lost due to COVID-19. Read More 4. PROHIBIT SALES BY CORPORATIONS THAT PUT THE WORLD'S HEALTH AT RISK PHASE-IN PROHIBITIONS AGAINST U.S PRODUCT SALES BY CORPORATIONS WITH IRRESPONSIBLE DEFORESTATION AND/OR ILLEGAL/UNSAFE WILDLIFE TRADE ANYWHERE IN THEIR SUPPLY CHAINS. HIV, SARS, H1N1, Ebola, Zika, MERS, and COVID-19 are all zoonotic diseases. Diseases are jumping from animals to humans at a steeply accelerating rate, primarily due to extractive industries that destroy tropical forests and Indigenous communities—in order to sell products to wealthier people elsewhere. Zoonotic disease hotspots have already been mapped out, and climate change-inducing corporate encroachment into wildlife habitats is putting the world at risk . We know where the problems are and what's causing them. All that is missing is action. Prohibit U.S. Government purchases of products with unsafe forest or wildlife supply chains as soon as possible. Support U.S. and international enforcement of regulations for trade in forest and wildlife products, lending support to communities and national authorities, stepped up safety and sanitation for markets, and support for One Health and Planetary Health initiatives. Support similar initiatives in the EU, UK, and at the G20 level. Read More 2. END VACCINE APARTHEID AFFORDABLE AND ACCESSIBLE MEDICINES AND VACCINES WORLDWIDE—including the USA Drug companies want to keep medicines and vaccines developed with taxpayer-funded R&D (hundreds of billions of dollars so far for COVID-19) under lock and key, hidden behind costly patent monopoly barriers. Pharmaceutical corporation patents on the public's research prop up high prices that leave billions behind, create multi-year manufacturing bottlenecks, and grant privileged access to whiter, wealthier nations. This must change—for all medicines and vaccines, not just those invented during this pandemic. Domestically, exorbitant drug prices are an enormous problem that must be addressed beyond this current crisis. If a pharmaceutical corporation refuses to license a product or support transfer of technology and know-how internationally, or if the company refuses to agree to a fair price domestically, President Biden should make use of his existing executive powers to, at the stroke of a pen, license a generic producer. This is the only tactic to ensure prices always come down and that patients always get the medicines they need. The Biden Administration should also include global access and domestic fair pricing clauses in new taxpayer-funded R&D grants. Now that the United States has rejoined the WHO and made a contribution to COVAX, it's time to scale up support for manufacturing, technology, and know-how transfer. Until we help finance vaccine manufacturing hubs and distribution systems strong enough to reach billions more people, COVID-19 will continue to mutate and spread, possibly outrunning the vaccines we have at hand. Smart investments are urgently needed and will last long after the current crisis, once we've built up the industrial capacity already existing in numerous countries across Africa, Asia, and South America. Read More 3. LAUNCH A NATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH AND CLIMATE JOBS CORP FIGHTING RACIAL HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL DISPARITIES Restore decades of disinvestment in public health and in environmental well-being impoverished communities by creating hundreds of thousands of permanent union jobs in community-based social change organizations, preferentially hiring from vulnerable communities impacted by systemic racism and the policies that push pandemic diseases onto the already poor and sick. A Public Health Corps should tackle a broader range of health disparities, such as opioid addiction, homelessness, environmental racism, natural resources restoration and conservation, clean energy, and even rural broadband. The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials estimate that at least 300,000 public health jobs are needed, and this number is supported by Obama/Biden CDC Director Tom Frieden’s estimate. They should be paid a living wage (similar to Census Workers) and belong to a union. Rather than being low-level health service providers for government agencies, the Public Health Corps should be organizers, working at community-based advocacy organizations. These jobs should be purpose-built to organize for social change and mobilize to correct systemic and structural problems that have contributed to communities of color being disproportionately poor and sick long before COVID. We must take additional action to repair and heal the country with new protections for essential workers, COVID survivors, and families, including: (1) compensation for victims and survivors of COVID-19, modeled after the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund covering out-of-pocket medical costs, mental health counseling, funerals/burials, pain and suffering, and loss of earnings, while also providing GI-bill style educational benefits; (2) Implement an NIH research agenda for the "25-35% or more " of COVID-19 patients Dr. Anthony Fauci reports having long-term symptoms; (3) There are millions of Americans who are or will be temporarily or permanently disabled by coronavirus. These people need hassle-free life-long disability benefits and other social supports; (4) Pass the Essential ​Workers Bill of Rights Read More R2H Action, joined by more than 125,000 thousand activist leaders, health workers, scientists, and families impacted by COVID, is fighting for a People’s Pandemic Prevention Plan. This call to action is backed by 1,500 front-line health workers and 450+ organizations. Renowned experts like Professor Jeff Sachs, Professor Ruha Benjamin, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Dr. Nahid Bhadelia and Dr. Paul Farmer have joined the call, and are speaking up in town halls, online forums, and op-eds advocating for this plan. In Autumn 2020, R2H Action joined with Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Ro Khanna to advance the Pandemic Prevention Plan in Congress as a Congressional sign-on letter. After more than 300 grassroots meetings with Members of Congress and tens of thousands of emails and phone calls, 141 Members of Congress endorsed the plan Since then, we've helped draft a dozen bills, joined eight coalitions, enlisted another 120 MOCs on a new letter to President Biden, and are well on our way towards turning this plan into law. ​ These four priority areas are not all that is needed—but we will not succeed unless we tackle these issues. Organizational Endorsers ORGANIZATIONS ENDORSING THE PEOPLE'S PANDEMIC PREVENTION PLAN : As of 11 October 2020 : NAACP • SEIU • Greenpeace USA • United We Dream • Families USA • Religious Action Center • ACT UP • NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice • Indivisible USA • R2H Action [Right to Health] • Friends of the Earth Action • Center for Popular Democracy • Women’s March Action • Marked by COVID • Public Citizen • Union for Reform Judaism (RAC, Religious Action Center) • Rainforest Alliance • Community Catalyst • CAEAR Coalition • Oxfam • Our Revolution • Natural Resources Defense Council • The AIDS Institute • Human Impact Partners • Mighty Earth • NASTAD (National Association of State and Territorial AIDS Directors) • National Employment Law Project • #VOTEPROCHOICE • Positive Women’s Network USA • Association of Nurses in AIDS Care • AVAC - Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention • Partners In Health • People for the American Way • People's Action • Students for a National Health Program • Global Exchange • Torah Trumps Hate • Dogwood Alliance • Physicians for a National Health Program • Treatment Action Group • Social Security Works • Universal Health Care Action Network • Common Defense • National Women’s Health Network • Coalition on Human Needs • Southern AIDS Coalition • AIDS Alliance for Women, Infants, Children, Youth & Families • Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice • National Coalition of STD Directors • African Services Committee • National Partnership for Women & Families • Grey Panthers • Drug Prices are Too High • Clinicians for Progressive Care • End AIDS Now • Community Health Acceleration Partnership • CODEPINK • ADAP Advocacy Association • Center for Biological Diversity • Housing Works Inc. • Iowa CCI (Citizens for Community Improvement) • Physicians Action Network • Progressive Doctors • Community Access National Network (CANN) • Progressive Reform Network • Latino Commission on AIDS • Organizing for Action USA • The Juggernaut Project • Thermo Fisher Scientific • Witness at the Border • Mainers for Accountable Leadership • National Equal Rights Amendment Alliance • Justice is Global • Antibalas! • Southpaw Michigan • San Francisco AIDS Foundation • Casa de Esperanza: National Latin@ Network for Healthy Families and Communities • American Muslim Health Professionals • The Center for HIV Law and Policy • AIDS Foundation Chicago • Fenway Health Right Care Alliance - MA • Tennessee Anti-Racist Network • Berks Stands Up • 3rd World Matrix • A Space for Healing • A. Philip Randolph Square Neighborhood Alliance • ACT UP Philadelphia • Action Together Bay Area • Action Together Florida • Courage California • Action Together Suncoast • Action Together Walpole • Affordable Homeownership Foundation Inc • Akron Local DSA Akron • Alameda County Health Consortium • Alexander Tenants Association Inc. • Always Looking Up • Amazon Productions • American Security Educators, Inc. • American Voices Abroad Berlin • Amnesty International. Group 213 • Arc Health PBC • Arkansas WAND • Asian Americans for Community Involvement • Banned Books, LLC • Without Walls / Baun Associates • Benedictine Sisters of Baltimore • Benedictine Sisters, Clyde, MO • Berryville Organics • Big Picture Productions • BioMediCon, Inc. • Bolder Benefits, Inc. • Bristlecone Alliance • Broadway Community • Build A Movement 2020 • Butler County Democratic Executive Committee • Calling for Change • Cancer Prevention Daily • Carolina Jews for Justice • Casa de Salud • CDI / Choices for Children • Center for Indian Law • Center For Inquiry • Central Valley Journey 4 Justice • Centre for Environment Human Rights & Development Forum- CEHRDF • Physicians for Social Responsibility - Chicago • Christian Council of Delmarva • Christus Trinity Clinic • Circle of Hope • 7 Toes Productions • Cleveland Power of Wind Action Team • Climate Health Now, California • CO Foundation for Universal Health Care - Candidate Liaison Project for IMFA • Coai, Inc. • Collier Congressional Watchdogs • Colorado Foundation for Universal Health Care • Communities of Shalom, Inc. • Communities Without Borders • Community Food and Justice Coalition • Community Health Partnership • Community of St. Francis, San Francisco • Compassionate Toledo • Congregation of St. Joseph • Ka Ipu Ha'a Mentoring Program • Daughters of Charity • Dearborn Art Group • Deep Water Care • Desert Progressives • Dialogue Institute • District 6 Community Planners • Diversity Directions • DSA Health Workers Collective • Earth Evolution • Ecological Rights Foundation • Economic Inequity Health Task Force of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility • ECOregon: The Environmental Concert of Oregon • Educultural Foundation • El Sol Neighborhood Educational Center • EMPOWER India • Empowered Connections • Indivisible Englewood • Eno River Unitarian Universalist Earth Justice Team • Environment and Climate Change Canada • Eons Learning • Extinction Rebellion - UW Chapter (XRUW) • Family Council • Farwell Foundation • First Congregational Church - Littleton United Church of Christ NH • Food for the Cure • Fortunate Farm LLC • Foundation for Integrative AIDS Research (FIAR) • Free the Caged Children • Fresh Anointing Ministries • Friends of Earth-San Antonio Chapter • Fund Our Future International • FVM Global Magazine • GaiaYana • Garvin County Environmental Group • Gender Action • Georgetown Medical AIDS Advocacy Network (GMAAN) • Global Green Publication and Productions • Global United Voices Network • GlobeMed at Northwestern, Evanston, IL, US • Gloucester Coalition for the Prevention of Domestic Abuse • Good Neighbor Food Pantry of Woodstock NY • Grandmother's Healing Wisdom • Green Earth Goods • Green Party of the Mid-Columbia, WA • H-Peace • Hadassah, Orlando Chapter • Harvard Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association • Hawaii Institute for Human Rights • Health Care For All MA • Health Care New Zealand • Healthcare for All California/PNHP • Heart's Path Healing • Hershey's Mill Nature Group • Hip Kids Pediatrics • Hoboken RESIST • House of Grace • HTLV/XMRV National Registry • Human Ecology Center • id22: Institute for Creative Sustainability • Idaho Veterans Indivisible • iHealth • Immigrant Service Providers Group, Somerville CDC • IMPACT (Illinois Medical Professionals Action Collaborative Team) • Indian Health Clinics • Indigenous Circle of Flagstaff • Indivisible - Sacramento • Indivisible 49 • Indivisible Acadiana • Indivisible Action Group Upper West Side • Indivisible Anchorage • Indivisible Columbus District 3 • Indivisible District 31 • Indivisible Irvington • Indivisible Lowville • Indivisible San Francisco • Indivisible Sedona • Indivisible South Suburban Communities, Illinois • Indivisible Wooster • Indivisible-Canton MA • Indivisible, Lewisburg, WV • Injoy Pastoral Care • Institute for Creative Living • International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), Fast-Track Cities Institute • International Student Carbon Footprint Challenge • Irish Doctors for Environment • Joining Forces for Education • JP Progressives • Just Faith • Justice For All (JFA) • Ka Ipu Ha'a (The Humble Vessel) • Kamukunji Paralegal Trust (KAPLET) • Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare • Kids First • Kids Talk Climate • Kids That Care Pediatric & Cancer Fund • King-Snohomish Progressive Organization • LA Forward • La Huerta, LLC USA • Las Ventanas • Latinos Salud • League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland • League of Women Voters of New Rochelle • Leonard Peltier Defense Committee • Let’s Kick ASS NY (AIDS Survivor Syndrome) • Liberal Women of Chesterfield County Healthcare Advocacy Committee • Living Beatitudes Community • Longview United Methodist Church • Lumiere Foundation • Lycoming County Progressives • Madoo Ministry • Mariposa Habitat Nursery • Mass ACT • Mass Peace Action • MDavis Consulting LLC • Medafore.com • Medical IMPACT • Medical Whistleblower Advocacy Network • Michigan Coalition for Human Rights • Michigan Teamsters Black Caucus • MillerMedia7 • Minnesota River Valley Audubon Chapter (MRVAC) • Minority Health International Research Training Program at Rhodes College • MIT Global Health Alliance, Planetary Health Alliance • Monastery of St. Gertrude • Morris Action Coalition • Mothers Out Front-Tompkins • Moving Forward Towards Independence • National Equality Action Team (NEAT) • Nebraskans for Peace • Nelson Mandela TB HIV Community Information and Resource Center • Neponset Health Center • NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice • Nevada County Sunrise • New York Doctors • Nia Impact Capital • NJ Peace Action • Nonviolent Austin • North American Climate Conservation and Environment (NACCE) • Northeast Ohio’s Peoples Leadership Group • Nu Rho Foundation Inc. • NYC Coalition to Dismantle Racism in the Health System • NYS Democratic Committee - Town of Fabius • NYS for Elizabeth Warren • Ocean Conservation Society • One Human Family QCA • Organizing for Action Blue West Valley • Organizing for Action, Tacoma • Our Revolution Long Beach • OWL SF • Pacifica Environmental Family • Panhandle Democrats • Parallax Perspectives • Partners in Health Engage - Harvard Chapter • Partners in Health Engage - Pitt Chapter • Partners in Health Engage Miami • Partners in Health-Engage - UNC Chapter • Pax Christi, Long Island • Peeling Back The Onions Layers Community Education Project • PEER: Progressive East End Reformers • People's Lobby • Persist Chicago • Physicians for a National Health Plan of Western PA • Physicians for a National Health Program - Ventura Chapter • Bar Hostess Empowerment and Support Programme • Physicians for a National Health Program of Western PA • Physicians for a National Health Program-NY Metro Chapter • Physicians for Progress - Ventura County • Physicians for Social Responsibility - AZ Chapter • Planning Alternatives for Change, NYC • Plowshare Peace and Justice Center • Power Together Women’s March • Preserve Giles County • Prevention Access Campaign • Progressive Democrats of America - Orange CA Chapter • Progressive Democrats of America-Tucson AZ Chapter • Progressive Women of Pelham • Project Blueprint • Q Clinic, NYC • Ranck Consulting • RATT Pack (Resistance Action Tuesdays and Thursdays) • Reclaim Augusta • Reedsburg Area Concerned Citizens • Rethink Captivity • Revolution Strategy • Right Care Alliance - FL • Rivers Project • ROC Action • Sands Jr Community Development Corp • Sequoia Forest Keeper • Sero Project • Sisters of Mercy, Omaha • Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur • Sisters of Social Service • Sisters of St. Dominic of Blauvelt New York • Sisters of St. Dominic or Racine Dominicans • Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia • Sisters of St. Joseph, Boston • SKS - Strategic Knowledge Sciences • Sound Solutions • South Florida Audubon Society • Body Politic COVID-19 Virtual Support Group • South Puget Sound Action Network • South Siders for Peace • South End Neighbors for Peace and Justice • Southern DE Alliance for Racial Justice • St. John CME Church • Stand Earth • Strong Heart School • Students for a National Health Program—Weill Cornell Medicine Chapter • Students for a National Health Program, UC Berkeley Chapter • Sustainable Arizona • Sustainable Mill Valley • Swing Left Peninsula • Terra Advocati • The Arc SF • The Cranky Queer Guide to Chronic illness • The Ecotopian Society • The Father Walter Outreach Inc. • The Institute for Creative Living • The Queenie Foundation, Inc. • SAMOCRI • Centia Health • The Talented Ten, Inc • The Tree of Life Clinic LLC • The Tucker Schoeman Venture • The Whaleman Foundation • The Writers Workshop of Asheville, NC • Tidewaters Gateway Partnership • Twin Cities Nonviolent • Upper Valley Community Nursing Project • Upper West Side MoveOn • Uptown Progressive Action (NYPAN chapter) • Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences • Veterans For Peace, Chapter 161 • Vivent Health • Ward 8 Woods Conservancy • Water Protectors of Milwaukee • Westchester Disability Advocacy Partnership (WDAP) • Westland Ecumenical Community Food Pantry • White Rabbit Grove RDNA • Win-Win Resolutions • WolfPAC Tennessee • Women Together Global Inc • Women's Health Institute • Worcester NOW • Wyoming Interfaith Network • Xun Biosphere Project • Youth and Women for Opportunities in Uganda • Americas TB Coalition • Care. Test. Protect. • Centre for Health and Development Initiative Africa • National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd • Action Together Stark • DEMSW • Alliance for Development and Population Services • Indivisible St Johns Florida • Global Justice Institute • Good Health Community Programmes • Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR) • The Womxn Project • SisterSong: National Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective • National Working Positive Coalition • Broward for Progress • Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum • Human Rights Research Documentation Center (HURIC) • LightHouse of Grace • Gaia: The Earth Force United Coalition • Poligon Education Fund • UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose • Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces • Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Association • Unitarian Universalist Justice Florida • Cascade AIDS Project • GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality

Watch the tenth Right to Health Web-In "Breaking Barriers to Vaccinate Billions: A Roadmap for Global Vaccine Equity" to learn more about what we can do to ensure millions around the world receive their shot too. We’re so honored to welcome our panelists: ​ Priti Radha Krishtel , a health justice lawyer and co-founder of I-MAK, a non-profit building a more just and equitable medicines system. Leena Menghaney , an activist with Medicine Sans Fronteir’s Access Campaign based in India (Otherwise known as Doctors Without Borders) Matthew Rose , a longstanding HIV and social justice advocate, policy wonk, and Director of U.S. Policy & Advocacy at Health GAP ​ ​

Declaración del derecho a la salud contra la violencia racial April 5, 2022 ​ Lloramos y nos solidarizamos con la familia y amigos de George Floyd, Breonna Taylor y otras víctimas de la violencia patrocinada por el estado, así como con los valientes manifestantes en esta lucha contra los asesinatos en masa cargados racialmente. Sus muertes trágicas son el resultado de una pandemia, una de violencia sistémica, brutal, contra BIPOC (negros e indígenas de color), sancionada por las leyes, políticas y prácticas de nuestro país. Vemos la injusticia de los presupuestos policiales hinchados y militarizados y la falta simultánea de inversión en una respuesta equitativa de COVID-19. Vivimos en un país en el que todos nuestros sistemas, desde la vigilancia policial hasta el encarcelamiento, la atención médica y más, se esfuerzan no solo por devaluar a las personas negras, sino también por matarlas. Estas atrocidades son responsables de miles de muertes que afectan desproporcionadamente a las comunidades BIPOC. Como organización comprometida con el derecho a la salud, reconocemos el racismo como una pandemia y una crisis de salud pública. Prometemos comprometernos con la responsabilidad actual de desmantelar el racismo: la enfermedad estructural y genocida diseñada intencionalmente para secuestrar la riqueza, el poder y la salud de los blancos, a expensas brutales del BIPOC. Prometemos aprender, comprender y aprovechar los diversos privilegios y posiciones que tenemos para la justicia y la equidad. Trabajaremos continuamente para ser antirracistas. Prometemos confrontar y trabajar para erradicar la realidad de que el racismo y la lucha contra la negrura viven dentro de nosotros y construir todos los sistemas que están separados. Continuaremos luchando por un mundo libre de violencia patrocinada por el estado y políticas irresponsables de salud global y doméstica que roben la vida de las mismas personas de quienes se tomó, y continúa siendo, la riqueza de los poderosos.

ACTIVISTS POUR LOVED ONE'S ASHES ON SENATE STEPS, DEMAND PASSAGE OF INTERNATIONAL PANDEMIC PREVENTION AND COVID RESPONSE ACT DONATE TODAY / FUEL THE FIGHT

Update: We deeply mourn the loss of the late Dr. Paul Farmer, a global health equity pioneer and one of our mentors. Below is the description from an event that took place in April 2021. During this event, activists engaged in a thought-provoking discussion with medical anthropologist and physician Dr. Paul Farmer about the social movement that we need to break the accelerating cycle of pandemics. We must meet this moment with a movement that ends the cycle of panic and neglect and ensures that we don’t repeat the same mistakes yet again. This conversation will explore how we can take lessons from previous social movements and apply them to create a social movement to pandemic-proof the planet. About Dr. Paul Farmer The late Dr. Paul Farmer, M.D., Ph.D., was Kolokotrones University Professor and chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and Co-founder and chief strategist of Partners In Health. Farmer and his colleagues have pioneered novel, community-based treatment strategies that demonstrate the delivery of high-quality health care in resource-poor settings. He has written extensively on health, human rights, and the consequences of social inequality. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, from which he was the recipient of the 2018 Public Welfare Medal. He has authored multiple books, including: The Uses of Haiti , Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor , and Reimagining Global Health: An Introduction . His most recent book, is Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds: Ebola and the Ravages of History .

Training Resources Platform Birddog Sample Videos Event Finder Sample Questions Learn how to get political candidates and elected officials on the record about health justice policy changes - and get involved! Training resources Training Resources: BIRDDOGGING 101 GUIDE Birddogging platform R2H Action+Allies Midterm Requests: Click here to view this policy platform in your browser Birddoggers in Action! Candidate Roillins and Rep. Swallwell (both Ds, CA) Rep. Elect Gabe Vasquez (D, NM) birddog Birddog Videos Birddogging event finder Scroll right to search for candidate events in 30 states Midterm Birddog Event Finder Click here to view this event finder spreadsheet in a new window Sample birddoc questions Sample Birddog Questions Click here to view these questions in a browser window

R2H submits input to the WHO's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (HEPR) Paper R2H submitted the below statement to the World Health Organization as recommendations to their HEPR Paper recently released at the May 2022 World Health Assembly: Right to Health Action (R2HA) is America’s largest grassroots movement of COVID survivors and long-haulers, people who have lost loved ones, front-line health workers, and global health practitioners. Our leaders were deeply involved in successful campaigns for AIDS treatment, and then led work that founded, shaped and launched both the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, as well as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. We are very supportive of the historic, enormously important work is underway to launch a new multilateral fund for pandemic preparedness. However, we see a crucial, deadly blind spot - one that is as racist as the widespread expert consensus that Africa was incapable of AIDS treatment. Without correcting this oversight, WHO’s Health Emergencies work, along with the historic global fund for pandemics, are being set up for a very expensive, very deadly failure. Here’s the problem: the broad body of work commonly short-handed as "pandemic preparedness” is universally limited in scope to merely to preventing the spread of disease. The attention is entirely post outbreak, after spillover. We are not looking at all to actually preventing zoonotic disease spillovers from happening in the first place. In other words, pandemic “preparedness” has more accurately referred only to “pandemic containment” — stopping the spread of disease, most typically from poor countries to wealthier ones. Focusing solely on containment, and not at all on true outbreak prevention, is to accept that “poor people just die.” We should not accept this. There are cost-effective, proven activities that prevent new zoonotic leaps. This true prevention work should be a core function of the new Pandemic Fund/FIF. We urge the Director-General to incorporate at every step, proven, cost-effective initiatives that prevent zoonotic spillover as part and parcel of the work of HEPR and the new pandemic fund. Failing to do so is volunteering only to send firetrucks to burning buildings. ​ With that lengthy critique in mind, R2H Action hopes that WHO would be willing to incorporate a new item 2 in the “Annex” of the Global Architecture for HEPR white paper. If the WHO team has questions or comments, we would be happy to assemble a team of experts from our international coalition to speak on the following text. ​ 2. Preventing spillover The global responsibility for pandemic prevention does not begin or end with containing the spread of outbreaks after-the-fact, but rather, substantially farther upstream with actions to prevent outbreaks from ever occurring. The tools of disease containment (such as travel bans), and response (such as PPE, vaccines and therapeutics) are often inequitably distributed. Prevention, on the other hand, benefits all people, particularly those who would are socioeconomically disadvantaged. The accelerating and intensifying waves of pandemics seen in recent decades are overwhelmingly the product of zoonotic spillover. Reducing the risk of zoonotic transmission by preventing spillover of pathogens from animals to humans is essential for health equity. Conversely, the failure to implement interventions that prevent new disease outbreaks is to accept sickness and poor health, while dooming the world to expensive, defensive actions. These actions carry massive return on investment. Furthermore, some of these actions can help mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss, which are catastrophic threats that will only further exacerbate health emergencies if left unaddressed. ​ 2.1 Incentives and enforcement to steeply reduce outbreak risk: Preventing spillover requires combinations of legal action and tax incentives such as those taken by governments that reduced clearing and degradation of tropical forests by up to 70% in the Amazon. This must be coupled with bans and strictly regulating markets and trade of wildlife that pose a public health risk, and support to improve biosecurity of animal husbandry for communities in L/MICs. 2.2 Community health to stop spillover The pandemic fund should also finance proven interventions that provide healthcare and alternative livelihoods to Indigenous people and communities engaged in extractive economies in emerging infectious disease hotspots. These kinds of interventions at the tropical forest edge have been demonstrated to reduced the number of logging families by more than 90%, while delivering gains in human health, reductions in infant mortality, poverty reduction—results more than paid for with conserved above-ground carbon. — ​ ​

Congress to pandemic-pummeled planet: “DROP DEAD” PROMINENT VOICES OF COVID PROTEST CONGRESSIONAL COLLAPSE, DEMAND ACTION Virtual protest recording date: Wednesday, March 9th | 12pm ET [Washington DC] Just before the second anniversary of COVID, prominent COVID movement leaders protested the collapse of a bipartisan COVID supplemental relief deal in Congress, and demanded action to fund global vaccinations and to prevent future pandemics. ​ With hundreds of supporters viewing, the activists recorded one hour of emotional quotes and analysis from leaders personally impacted by COVID, representing hundreds of thousands of people nationwide from from Right to Health Action, Marked by COVID, COVID-19 Long-Haulers Outreach, and COVID-19 Loss Support for Family & Friends. The speakers can be contacted for a reaction to the collapse of a $15 billion emergency supplemental in Congress today - a failure in the House of Representatives that unfolded just hours after these fierce women pled for Congressional action. ​ "Congress demonstrated is has learned absolutely nothing from two years of COVID and one million deaths in America," said Dr. Tulika Singh, from Right to Health Action. "There will be consequences from this shortsighted failure. Most importantly, millions more will die the longer we delay vaccine sharing. But also, there will be accountability on the campaign trail for those responsible for the collapse of this bipartisan deal. Nine million of us who have lost loved ones and the millions more older voters and immune-compromised people being left behind cannot 'move on' or 'get back to normal'. We will remember what our elected officials did this week, and follow up with direct actions during the midterms." ​ "Congress behaved as if we are already done with COVID," continued Dr. Singh, who lost her grandmother. "But a new, more contagious variant is already surging worldwide, in India and UK, and amounting to more than 11% of the cases in America as of March 5th. Hong Kong is facing lockdown today, with overflowing hospitals and morgues.” ​ "The decision to reject global vaccination funding is a decision for another year of worldwide pandemic," said Dr. Singh. "Voters have COVID incompetence fatigue, and will hold our leader to the fire for this.” ​ This week began with the six millionth COVID death worldwide, and will also include March 11th-the grim second anniversary of WHO’s determination that COVID-19 is a global pandemic. While the nation nears one million Americans killed by COVID, March 11th will also be the deadline for Congress to pass a five-month-overdue budget for fiscal year 2022. Yet even the hard fought $5 billion for global vaccines included in the omnibus–only one quarter of what is needed, according to USAID–was too much for Congress to appropriate. ​ On Wednesday, March 9th, well known activists and emerging movement leaders shared their personal stories of loss, anger, and made urgent pleas for Congress to include supplemental funds for global vaccines, domestic COVID response, and pandemic prevention worldwide in this week’s omnibus spending vote. The activists pledged to be a presence on the campaign trail in the months ahead, putting MOCs and candidates on the spot with tough questions that hold them accountable for today’s murderous collapse. ​ Sabila Khan, co-founder of COVID-19 Loss Support for Family & Friends, shares, “I am doing this work in honor of my father, Shafqat Khan. With our nation's rush towards ‘normal,’ he, like so many millions around the world who died terrible and traumatic deaths, is being pushed aside as an inconvenient statistic. I won't rest until we recenter the COVID conversation around the heartbreaking human toll of this virus and especially around those communities it has disproportionately impacted: BIPOC, the elderly, the poor, chronically ill, and disabled.” ​ SPEAKERS IN THE RECORDING: Activists who have lost loved ones, are struggling with long term effects of COVID, or are doctors treating COVID patients at the front-line will share their personal stories of pain, honor the memories of their lost loved ones, and call on Congress to take bold, immediate action to combat the pandemic. ​ Kristin Urquiza, Founder, Marked By COVID, whose father was killed by COVID after trusting AZ Governor Ducey’s claim that it was “safe to resume normal activities”. Kristin gave a fiery call to action in prime-time during the Democratic National Convention. CONTACT: kristin@markedbycovid.com Sabila Khan, co-founded COVID-19 Loss Support for Family & Friends – the largest collection of COVID bereaved in the world--four days after losing her community activist father, Shafqat Khan, to the virus in April 2020. She has since lost three more family members. CONTACT: sabilarasulkhan@gmail.com Dr. Tulika Singh, PhD, MPH, public health scientist developing vaccines for emerging infections at UC Berkeley who lost her grandmother to COVID-19 in India in October 2020. R2H Action. CONTACT: tulika.singh@r2haction.org Dr. Hannah Lichtsinn, internist and pediatrician in Minneapolis, MN and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota, and R2H Action member. CONTACT: hshacter@gmail.com Janeth Nuñez del Prado, a social worker in Albuquerque and regional leader for Marked By COVID, whose father died in Bolivia days before traveling to the USA for a vaccine in May 2021. CONTACT: jnunezdelprado@gmail.com Giovanna Braganza, MPH, a public health policy researcher and R2H Action State Captain from New York, NY, will be sharing the story of her immigrant father who was lost to COVID-19 in April 2020. CONTACT: Amanda Finley, a COVID survivor who still experiences negative health effects, and founder of COVID-19 Long-Haulers Outreach. CONTACT: Amanda@covidlonghaulers.global Erika Mckibben, R2Her and domestic violence outreach advocate and health activist from Atlanta, GA, will be moderating and sharing the story of her father who was lost to COVID-19 in April 2020. CONTACT: mckibben666@gmail.com ​ WHY: Activists called for at least $17 billion in emergency funds for global vaccines and $850 million for a global fund for pandemic prevention in the March 11th appropriations package – $12.85 billion more than the $5 billion sum for global vaccines that ultimately failed. ​ Right to Health Action, along with coalition partners, has been fighting for a global fund for pandemics for the last two years. 120 members of Congress joined us to urge the White House to provide $2 billion in seed funding for a global pandemic prevention fund in a bipartisan letter. 80 members of Congress already asked appropriators for $17 billion for global vaccines, in addition to a bipartisan letter addressed to President Biden sent by 14 Senators urging action to vaccinate the world. The activists will also speak in favor of the domestic funds needed to respond, rebuild and prepare included in the President’s emergency supplemental request. -end- FAILURE on global vaccines on 2nd anniversary of WHO pandemic declaration

Climate Justice and Planetary Health: Stopping the Next Pandemic Right to Health Action Web-In #9 SUNDAY • APRIL 11, 2021 • 4:00PM ET | 1:00PM PT In our 9th Right to Health Web-in: “Climate Justice & Planetary Health: Stopping the Next Pandemic”. During this interactive event, we discussed the role of tropical deforestation (the largest cause of emerging disease outbreaks!) in the acceleration of global pandemics, and how to prevent and contain zoonotic spillovers by investing in job training, community healthcare access and health systems strengthening for rainforest communities in zoonotic disease hotspots. ​ We are so excited to be joined by our brilliant panelists: Marcelo Salazar PhD, Executive Coordinator of Health in Harmony (HIH) in Brazil Glenn Hurowitz, CEO, Mighty Earth ​ Marcelo Salazar is the executive coordinator of Health In Harmony (HIH) in Brazil, an advisor for Forest Economy and member of the Council of Instituto Socioambiental (ISA). Health in Harmony-Brazil, endeavors to strengthen indigenous and riverine communities in the Amazon Rainforest, reducing deforestation by improving the healthcare of these communities. ISA is a Brazilian NGO focused on integrated solutions to social and environmental problems. Marcelo is a Brazilian industrial engineer (UFSCar) and has been working with traditional Amazon communities for over 20 years to support their sustainable development and protect their rights. He lives with his family in Altamira, Para state, on the banks of the Xingu River. ​ Glenn Hurowitz is the CEO of Mighty Earth, and has led environmental campaigns around the world for many years. He is a globally recognized leader on forests, agriculture, and climate change, and running strategic campaigns. Glenn previously served as Chair of the Forest Heroes campaign, where he successfully secured strict No Deforestation policies from the world’s largest agribusinesses, including companies that cover 90% of global palm oil trade and, more recently, two of the world’s largest soy traders. As a result of this work, he and his colleagues at Forest Heroes won the Benny Award from the Business Ethics Network for their successes in transforming global agriculture. He co-founded Chain Reaction Research, which provides major financial institutions with in-depth risk analysis of companies’ sustainability risk.

Investing in Communities: Building Trust and Public Health Resilience Right to Health Action Web-In #8 WEDNESDAY • MAR 3, 2021 • 8:00PM ET | 5:00PM PT In our eighth Right to Health Web-In, “Investing in Communities: Building Trust and Public Health Resilience”, we will discuss the critical role that community health-based and led programs have played both before and during the Coronavirus pandemic. We know that a true community-oriented approach to public health is the best way to empower and protect our own communities; we have the evidence right here already from programs like PIH, COPE and El Sol. In light of COVID-19 and the economic crisis we now face, it is more necessary than ever that we invest in communities by creating a sustainable, nationwide public health workforce that can work to not only combat COVID-19, but ultimately rebuild and protect our public health systems for years to come.

People's Pandemic Prevention Plan Memo to Biden Transition Team ​ This memo contains recommendations supported by 65,000 people, 450+ organizations and 141 Members of Congress. It includes provisions to stop COVID-19, build back better, and prevent the pandemics of the future. Some actions require new legislation, but most can be enacted with Executive Authorities already possessed by a President. Download the memo here . ​ Please join R2H Action in urging the Biden Administration to adopt and enact this plan by sending a tweet to Surgeon General Nominee , COVID-19 Task Force Co-Chair and Transition Team Member Dr. Vivek Murthy.