The People's Health Movement (PHM) is a coalition of grassroots organizations dedicated to challenging the prevailing system of health care delivery that is failing to serve most of the poor worldwide.

In 1978, at the Alma-Ata Conference, ministers from 134 countries in association with the World Health Organization and UNICEF pledged to achieve 'Health for All by the Year 2000' and dedicated themselves to implement Primary Health Care as the means to achieve it.

Unfortunately, the peoples health status has not improved. In many cases it has deteriorated further. Twenty-five years after Alma-Ata, we are facing a global health crisis characterized by growing inequalities within and between countries. As people's living standards decline, new threats to health are emerging and old threats are reasserting themselves. The forces of corporate-led globalization are preventing a more equitable distribution of resources, a necessary condition for the improvement of people's health.

Within the health sector, failure to implement primary health care has significantly aggravated global and local health crises. A concerted international effort to put Health for All in its priority place on the development agenda is urgently needed and the corporate vision of "Health for all who can pay" must be opposed. Pressure must be exerted on decision-makers, governments and the private sector to ensure that this becomes a reality through the development and support of genuine, people-centered initiatives.

In December 2000, 1453 delegates from 92 countries founded the People's Health Movement. They drafted the People's Health Charter on the campus of Gonoshasthaya Kendra (GK - People's Health Centre) in Savar, Bangladesh after 18 months of preparatory action around the globe. This process involved international organizations, civil society movements, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), women's groups and a broad cross section of people involved in thousands of village meetings, district level workshops and national gatherings.

The People's Health Movement:

Calls upon all individuals and organizations to join this global movement and invites you to endorse the People's Charter for Health and and work with us to achieve its goals. (You download copies of the Charter in several languages from the PHM publications page.


Calls upon all individuals and organizations to join the Million Signature Campaign to demand HEALTH FOR ALL, NOW! from WHO, UNICEF, and other UN organizations, governments, and the international community to reaffirm and implement the principles and strategies of Alma Ata.


Invites you to contact the PHA Secretariat: secretariat@phmovement.org.