**About Us

Ethiopiahealthunlimited

At Health Poverty Action,we help the poorest and most marginalised people assert their right to health. We
prioritise those missed out by almost everyone else.
Our approach
We believe our approach to health is distinctive in two ways:
* Firstly, we focus passionately on the most poor and the most marginalised
* Secondly, we believe in a comprehensive approach. We don’t just improve health services, but other factors
that impact on health such as water, sanitation and nutrition.
The link with poverty
We have built up long-term relationships and trust with many of the poorest and most marginalised communities.
They may be on the edge of society because of ethnicity or culture, gender, geography, politics, economics – or any
combination of these.

For these people every day is a fight for life and health, against all the odds – and we are on their side, fighting with
them.

They never let us forget that a commitment to improving health requires a commitment to ending poverty. The two
are inseparable.

Poor health and poverty are each a key cause and consequence of the other. By addressing both at the same time we
can improve one by improving the other.
A human right

Health Poverty Action recognises health as a fundamental human right, not simply a medical challenge.

The world’s poorest also have this right – they should be aware of it and able to insist it is recognised. They need a
voice, and we will help them raise it.

The communities Health Poverty Action works with seem to come near the bottom of everyone else’s list, so we
put them at the top of ours.

Thank you for your interest.

**Policy
Our guide to health and development

Welcome to Health Poverty Action's guide to health and development. We’ve pulled together information about
some of the key issues that face the world in its struggle for health for all.

* The determinants of health

* Poverty and disease
* Tax and health
* International aid, financing and debt
* International trade and health
* Weak health systems
* Maternal and child health
* Health rights and marginalisation
* Millennium Development Goals

All these things are closely intertwined – if we want to make a real difference to global health we can’t address
each one in isolation, we need to look at the wider picture.
We hope these pages enable you to do just that. Each section gives you an overview of the key issues and what we
think needs to be done to address them. You can then delve deeper into particular topics to find out more, and read
about related projects that Health Poverty Action is involved in.

We hope you find these pages useful and inspiring.

**Health Poverty Action's programmes in Cambodia

Cambodia was ravaged by more than 40 years of political instability, over a decade of war and the brutality of the
Khmer Rouge regime. Today 78% of Cambodians live in deep poverty and healthcare provision is desperately poor.

* Four out of five Cambodians lives on less than $2 a day

* The country has the highest infant mortality rate in South East Asia (98 per 1,000 live births)
* Only one in six people has access to safe drinking water
* 58% of people in mountainous areas were living below the poverty line in 2004, up from 40% ten years earlier

While poverty has decreased overall in recent years, the health of indigenous people living in mountain areas has
declined dramatically, along with the quality of health services available to them.

Health Poverty Action is working in these remote areas to:

Increase access to health services

In Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri we are helping indigenous people advocate for better healthcare and services.

Prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS

In Ratanakiri we are educating people about how to prevent the spread of HIV infection.

Improve health services

In Preah Vihear we are working with the Ministry of Health to improve the quality of health services offered to
underserved communities.

Educate young people via radio and TV

We are working with the Cambodia Health Education Media Service to educate young people about sexual and
reproductive health through radio shows.

Fight the incidence of Malaria

We are working across the country to reduce the prevalence of malaria, particularly among women and children.

Improve mothers’ access to health services

We are improving access to maternal health services for indigenous women in Cambodia and Peru, through a joint
advocacy project.

**What we do
Birthing in Nicaragua

Radio Health show Uranana

We work with communities almost everyone else in the world has forgotten. They face great challenges – and we
seek to be innovative and pioneer new approaches to support them. For example:

* We have introduced birthing facilities that incorporate the cultural needs of indigenous people, without which
local women would not be able to use them.
* We have taken health education to remote areas through award-winning radio soaps, one of which has become
the most popular radio programme in Rwanda.
* Targeting the poorest has led us to become particularly skilled at reaching remote areas, especially in fragile
states, and working with cultural minorities.
A holistic approach

As well as improving health services and immunisation programmes, we target other areas such as nutrition, water,
sanitation and income generation.

Health education, when made culturally accessible, is also a very effective tool – promoting safer motherhood,
sexual and reproductive health and helping prevent life-threatening diseases such as HIV, malaria, TB, diarrhoea
and other dangerous infections.

Giving people a voice

Perhaps above all else, poor and marginalised communities suffer because they lack an effective voice. Health
Poverty Action helps them identify their needs and rights and negotiate with local authorities. We help them acquire
the skills, knowledge, confidence and opportunities they need to assert their right to health.

Campaigning and advocacy are increasingly important elements of our work, helping build a global movement for
health. By campaigning we can help improve the health of poor and marginalised people everywhere, not just in
those areas where we have programmes.
Changing policies

There is no justifiable reason why so many should be denied their right to health, but it happens primarily because
policies and practices make it happen. There is much that Health Poverty Action can do to change them – and they
must be changed.

Mass poverty is a scandal. It is arguably the worst stain on human history the world has known. But it’s not true
that it will always be here, certainly not on this obscene current scale.

We as a generation, in partnership with those most affected, have the power and the responsibility to end it.

**History
Health Poverty Action was founded 25 years ago by a group of British doctors working for large aid organisations
in Afghanistan. They recognised the strong link between health and conflict. Front lines make headlines, but over
the longer term the impact of conflict on health claims more lives than bullets.

We began providing healthcare in Southern Afghanistan in 1984 during the Soviet war. During conflicts it is the
poorest and most marginalised who suffer most, often living in the most remote and inaccessible areas. This has led
us to work in some very difficult environments, often providing the only external assistance to marginalised people,
including:

* Remote communities in southern Afghanistan during the conflict of the 1980s and early 1990s
* The Karen, Kachin and Wa in the hills of Burma for more than 15 years

Dr Chris Blatchley writes...

Download Dr Chris Blatchley writes... (1.51 Mb)
The Alma-Ata principles

In 1978 a UN Conference on Primary Health Care met in Alma-Ata, which is now in Kazakhstan. Its declaration
included ground-breaking principles that were a historic achievement for the activists who struggled for them and
the officials who negotiated and agreed the declaration.

“The existing gross inequality in the health status of the people, particularly between developed and developing
countries, as well as within countries, is politically, socially and economically unacceptable and is, therefore, of
common concern to all…”
Alma-Ata Declaration, September 1978

The principles laid down at Alma-Ata include:

 * A commitment to accessible and appropriate comprehensive primary healthcare
* The importance of a multi-sectoral approach such as improving household food security and access to clean
water, providing education, strengthening the voice of women and economic development
* The principle of equality and a rights-based approach
* The use of technology and techniques that are socially and culturally acceptable
* Accountability and community involvement
* Campaigning for economic justice, peace and reduced military expenditure – with environmental issues a
certain addition for today’s context.

Thirty years on, Health Poverty Action's beliefs and values today still resonate very strongly with these principles.
They provide a powerful tool with which to hold governments and decision-makers to account, and with which to
challenge ourselves.

How far we have come

Health Poverty Action now works in 12 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. We have developed
strong relationships with many indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities struggling for survival or caught up in
conflicts, including:

* the San in Namibia

* the Maya K’iche’ in Guatemala in the aftermath of the civil war
* the Quechua in Peru
* the Bunong, Jarai, Kreung and Tapoeun in Cambodia
* the Taleang, Tampoeun and Oye in the southern Lao PDR

We continue to work with the communities everyone else has forgotten.

**Accessibility
Accessibility features

The information on our website should be easy to access for everyone. To this end we have tried to make the site as
"user-friendly" as possible and made every effort to make it navigable for users with a visual impairment.

We have tried to make the site as simple to use as possible, with features including:

* Full site search, covering the contents of every page

* A sitemap, showing all the pages in each category
* Clear and consistent navigation, with main categories available on every page

We have also made sure that the website complies with all relevant standards so that information is available to
those using non-standard browsers and assistive technologies such as text-to-speech software. We have been
particularly careful to ensure that the text size across the whole of the site can be adjusted to help those with low
vision.

Because we use the newest technologies, users with a visual impairment don't have to use a downgraded, "text-
only" version of the site. The cost of using new technology is that the design does not look at its best in older
browsers.

Please note: We open external links in new windows by default. We believe this is a useful feature, but we are
aware that some accessibility guidelines advise against it. If you find this frustrating, or any other aspect of the site,
please let us know.
Varying text size

The text size across the whole of the website can be adjusted to ensure that it is easily read by those with low
vision. The procedure for doing so differs from one browser to the next. The instructions below outline the
procedure for some popular browsers. If your browser does not appear here, in general you will get somewhere by
following these guidelines: looking under the "View" selection on the main menu, you should find an option called
"Text Zoom" or "Text Magnification" or "Text Size" or "Font Size". From there it should be relatively simple to
find and select an additional submenu option that adjusts the text size to your needs.
Browser-specific instructions
If using Internet Explorer

1. Click on 'View' at the top of this window. 'View' will be between 'Edit' and 'Favourites', directly below the title
bar.
2. A drop-down menu will appear. One of the options will be 'vary text size'. Select this option.
3. A list of different text sizes will appear to the right of the mouse. 'Medium' is the default size for text. By
selecting other values, you can enlarge or reduce the text as you require.
4. Once you have selected a size, the page will automatically be redrawn using the new sizing.

If using Netscape Navigator or Mozilla

1. Click on 'View' at the top of this window. 'View' will be between 'Edit' and 'Go', directly below the title bar.
2. A drop-down menu will appear. There are two options: 'increase font', and 'decrease font'.
3. Once you have selected an option, the page will automatically be redrawn using the new sizing.

Alternatively, you can press 'CTRL + +' to increase the size, and 'CTRL + -' to decrease it.
Standards

This site is Double-A compliant to WAI and Bobby guidelines, as recommended by the Royal National Institute of
the Blind (UK). Conformance to these guidelines help make the Web more accessible to users with disabilities and
benefit all users.

There are too many accessibililty features to list here, but some of the more interesting or relevant features include:

* Pages are organized to be fully functional, even with javascript turned off
* All text uses relative font sizes so text can be enlarged or reduced using the text size options available in visual
browsers (see instructions below)
* All pages use flexible page formats so pages can be automatically resized for different window sizes and screen
resolutions
* All pages are designed with separate cascading style sheets, so they can be replaced by user-defined style
sheets
* Changes in function of differents parts of a page (e.g. navigation, content) are clearly labelled when using
adaptive technology
* changes in language are labelled clearly
* use of extra metadata generates standardised navigation in supported browsers (Lynx, iCab, Mozilla, Firebird
and Opera)

**Our New Name

Over the past few months we have been looking to refresh our identity and in particular we have been considering a
change of name. For the past 25 years ‘Health Unlimited’ has served us well, but we have increasingly found that it
doesn’t easily describe what kind of organisation we are. As a result we have changed our name to Health Poverty
Action. Below we have set out some of the thinking behind the name change.
Why change from Health Unlimited?

With the name ‘Health Unlimited’ people simply didn’t recognise who we are or what we do. We have been
mistaken for a health insurance company, a gym and a health food store! Our old name just didn’t adequately
reflect the work we do with communities worldwide to tackle the twin challenges of health and poverty.
Why did we choose Health Poverty Action?

A great many suggestions were made as to what our new name should be. Health Poverty Action was chosen
because we felt it best reflected who we are and what we do. This new identity marks us out as an organisation that
cares about health, cares about the poorest and does everything it possibly can to make a difference.
In an age of rapid media we often have only a few seconds to show people what we do, so it is essential that our
vision and mission are clear from our name. We believe Health Poverty Action does this for us.
Does this mean what we do will change?

No. We will still prioritise the poorest and most marginalised around the world and work to provide health care
where there is none, as well as tackling the factors which are locking people into poverty. Our more recent
campaigning work means that our profile in the UK is growing. So it is even more important that our name clearly
communicates who we are.
Has this cost a lot to do?

We have been very fortunate to have received free advice and designs from a leading communications consultancy,
meaning that the cost of the re-brand is minimal.
Will we be called Health Poverty Action around the world?

We are changing our name to Health Poverty Action in the UK throughout March, with the aim to clearly and
simply explain who we are to our predominantly UK-based audience. The new name will be gradually introduced
in the countries where we work in Asia, Latin America and Africa. There are some complex logistical challenges
for our country offices in doing this, so we want to make sure it is done properly even if this takes time.

Will our contact details change?

Our postal address and phone numbers remain the same. Our email addresses are changing from March but
emailing our old addresses (@healthunlimited.org) will continue to work for the next few months.

The only part of our email addresses to change is where the organisation’s name is. For example
general@healthunlimited.org will become general@healthpovertyaction.org.

**Senior management team

Director - Martin Drewry

Martin has a long background in the voluntary sector, initially as an award-winning grass-roots community
development worker in the UK, before moving to international development. After a few years as national
secretary of World Action, a pioneering Methodist programme enabling young people and adults to take action for
social justice, he spent the next decade as head of campaigns at Christian Aid. Here he played leading roles in
Jubilee 2000, Drop the Debt, the Trade Justice Movement and was one of the coordinators of Make Poverty
History. Martin’s academic grounding came from the Bradford University School of Peace Studies in the mid-
eighties, an experience he valued. He became director of Health Poverty Action in April 2006.
Head of Fundraising - Helen Stack

Helen joined Health Poverty Action in November 2008 from volunteering charity CSV. She held a similar role
there, developing relationships with philanthropists and charitable trusts and foundations. She has previously
worked at Imperial College and had a long career in PR and Media Relations before joining the charity sector. She
holds a BA (Hons) in modern languages from Queen Mary, University of London and is a trustee of RSVP Barnet,
a small volunteering charity.
Head of Programmes – Africa - Nicole Tobin

Nicole joined Health Poverty Action in January 2009 from CARE UK where she was the acting Africa regional
manager. Nicole has worked at Options Consultancy Ltd managing their Nigeria programmes, on the donor side at
USAID in Ghana, at a local NGO called Ghana Cooperatives Credit Unions Association, at the Canadian AIDS
Society in Canada and at CIDA. She is from Canada, and has lived and worked in Africa and the UK since 2000.
Head of Programmes – Asia/Latin America – Sameer Sah

Sameer joined Health Poverty Action in January 2009. Sameer is an Indian national with more than 19 years of
programme and project management and development experience in over 25 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin
America. Before coming to Health Poverty Action, he worked with Plan International in India as well as the UK in
various programme positions and has worked at Action on Elder Abuse as their fundraising manager. Sameer holds
a masters in English and a certificate in fundraising management.
Head of Policy & Campaigns -Sarah Edwards

Sarah joined Health Poverty Action in October 2009 from Jubilee Debt Campaign, where she was responsible for
policy and campaigning. Her previous advocacy experience was with Anti-Slavery International, the Catholic
Housing Aid Society, and student campaign group SPEAK, and she also worked for Stephen Timms MP. Sarah has
worked in South and South East Asia, she holds a BA (Hons) in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge
University and an MSc in Global Politics from the University of London.
Head of Finance and Administration - Carolyn Jubert

Carolyn joined Health Poverty Action in October 2009 from Marie Stopes International, where she worked as an
International Finance Manager. She has worked in the Finance and Programmes Departments at International Alert
and before that at WWF-UK. Carolyn holds a BSc (Hons) in Economics and Postgraduate qualifications in
Financial Management and Development Management.