Dear colleagues,

the following is an open letter distributed at the 4th International Conference
on Health Promotion. You might be interested to read what happened in Jakarta.

Eberhard

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------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Fri, 01 Aug 1997 10:27:45
To:            [log in to unmask]
From:          Fran Baum <[log in to unmask]>

Dear Eberhard

Below is a letter I've distributed to the PEH SIG State Convenors. I wonder
if it might be of interest to the  International Health group. If you think
so please distribute it.


Dear friends

Last week I attended the 4th International Conference on Health Promotion
and was alarmed by the extent of private sector (including the
pharmaceutical industry) in the conference. The committee drafting the
Jakarta Declaration contained a rep from the Pharmaceutical industry. A
Coca Cola executive (I kid you not) gave a keynote address and informed us
of all the wonderful health promotion work Coca Cola does by creating
jobs!!!! A Johnson and Johnson  consultant (Jack Mullens) was on the
conference planning group and gave a keynote address informing us that the
private sector had much to offer us poor public sector people by way of
management and facilitation skills.  Trevor Hancock from Canada was so
insulted by Mullens address that he wrote him an open letter pointing out
that the private sector can also be extremely destructive of health. many
delegats signed it. If anyone wants a copy I can provide one when I've had
it typed.

Three South Africans (Olive Shisana, Gonda Perez, Pricilla Reedy) and I
drafted the following and distributed it to all delegates

Open Letter to Conference Participants

We as members of the WHO 4th International Health Promotion Conference wish
to express our concerns about the following aspects of the conference

Lack of opportunity for 'participants' to participate in the plenary
discussions

Too many speakers at each plenary with no time for discussion

Involvement of the pharmaceutical industry representative in drafting the
Jakarta declaration

No prior consultation on participation of the private sector in the
conference. We would have preferred that this matter be thoroughly debated
and guidelines drawn up on the criteria for participation of the private
sector before they were invited to participate.

we would like opportunities to discuss these issues in plenary so that
democratic decisions can be amde on these issues which are critical for the
future of health promotion.

If you agree with the above, please raise these issues at all the
forthcoming plenary sessions of this conference.


When participants had a chance to speak at a plenary session (on day 4 of
the 5 day conference). Many people raised these issues. Olive Shisana (DG
of Health for the RSA) spoke of her struggle to pass legislation to control
the pharmaceutical industry and how surprised she was to find they were to
be the "new partners for the new era of Health promotion". Gill Durham
(Director, Public Health, New Zealand) expressed great concern that WHO
technical advice could no longer be seen as independent as they had
involved industry in drafting what was hoped to become a key policy
document. There were very many other concerned voices.

We did succeed in having the Pharmaceutical person removed from the drafing
committee by the last day (some symbolism at least) but the conference was
depressing as it showed the extent of the reach of the forces of global
capital.

I thought you should all know this background when you read the contents of
the Jakarta Declaration below.

It would be useful to discuss these issues at our forthcoming meeting in
light of the renewing HFA strategy

Yours in depression

Fran
Fran Baum
Professor and Head, Department of Public Health, Flinders University of
South Australia
Director, South Australian Community Health Research Unit

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Eberhard Wenzel MA PhD
Griffith University
Australian School of Environmental Studies
Nathan, Qld. 4111
Australia
Tel.: 61-7-3875 7103
Fax:  61-7-3875 7459
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
http://www.ens.gu.edu.au/eberhard/welcome.htm

Law of Raspberry Jam:
The wider any culture is spread, the thinner it gets.