GI-ESCR participated in a panel organised by the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights - Uganda (ISER) to reflect on governance for health in the context of the COVID19 pandemic and the lessons that can be learned for the right to health. The webinar brought together panelists from the Ugandan Ministry of Health, Parliament, community members and ISER to highlight the situation and response in Uganda. Eurodad and GI-ESCR provided an international perspective.

GI-ESCR’s Policy and Legal Officer, Ashina Mtsumi, highlighted what the pandemic has revealed about the role of the private sector in healthcare from a human rights perspective. The COVID19 crisis has amplified the risk of leaving the health sector to market forces that have proven to be unable to cope with the scale and speed of the virus. This emphasised the importance of strengthening resilient public systems and taking this opportunity to reimagine the delivery of public services in general which have all been similarly affected. It has also become apparent that effective regulation of private actors in health services is essential in order to protect the right to health, particularly for the most disadvantaged in our societies.

This discussion builds on the report published by GI-ESCR in December 2019: Private Actors in Health Services: Towards a human rights impact assessment framework.

The full recording of the webinar can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=671395800318977&ref=watch_permalink and highlights of the discussion here: https://twitter.com/GIESCR/status/1260902190618685440?s=20.