End unnecessary suffering, end fees for health care
Having to pay fees for health care is life or death for millions of people worldwide. Having to pay for healthcare at the time of need drives up poverty and blocks access to life-saving treatment. In some countries people are even imprisoned in hospitals until their families can pay their bills. The World Health Organisation is electing its new Director General this month. This gives us a crucial window of opportunity to call on the final three candidates to pledge to lead a World Health Organisation that champions the removal of fees for health care.
Every year one billion people worldwide are denied medical care because they cannot afford to pay for it. At the same time, 100 million people are pushed into poverty by pursuing desperate measures to find or borrow money to pay for health care. For example, when four- year-old Raju from Odisha in India injured himself in a fall, three days of medical treatment cost his family more than they earn in a year (see the full story below). We are sure that you know of many similar stories.
Join Oxfam International, Action for Global Health, STOPAIDS, and many academics around the world in calling for an end to fees for health care. Tweet now to call on the three candidates to make the pledges. Together we can remind them that the real cost of fees for health care are lives lost.
