26 Jan 2016 WACC partner supports the right to health

The CD available from Comunicación Positiva: Who does what where?

Tackling health care issues is also a matter of communication.

In many countries with weak social safety nets, people suffering from high-cost chronic illnesses are particularly marginalized.

People suffering from diseases such as cancer, renal failure, epilepsy, or HIV/AIDS bear the burden of extremely expensive medical treatments and are often ignored by health providers and policy makers.

The situation is made even more difficult for those with limited financial resources, who often have to choose between paying for their medications and putting food on the table.

Over the past few years, Comunicación Positiva, a Colombia-based WACC project partner and member, has been supporting people with high-cost illnesses to engage in advocacy using digital communication technologies.

Drawing on the framework of communication rights, the group’s most recent project – supported by WACC – built the capacity of groups of patients in different parts of Colombia to use citizen journalism to advocate for the right to health.

As part of the project, the patients have produced a podcast series sharing their stories, and there are plans to begin to use these and other media content to engage in policy advocacy. Some of audio clips can be heard (in Spanish) by clicking on the following links:

• Justicia en salud para todos (Health justice for all) 28 minutes.
• La condición de salud no incapacita los sueños (A health condition doesn’t prevent you from dreaming) 23 minutes.
• Las enfermedades no matan. Mata el entorno social (Illnesses don’t kill: Your social surroundings do) 27 minutes.
• No hay que morirse antes de que llegue el día (There’s no need to die before your time’s up) 25 minutes.

To learn more about WACC’s work in the area of citizen journalism and digital communication platforms, please click here.