Jakarta International Health Conference Co-opted

Fran Baum, Australian representative of the International People’s Health Council (IPHC), attended the 4th International Conference of Health Promotion, organized by the World Health Organization in Jakarta. Fran reports on the way transnational corporations (TNCs) tried to influence health policies. She writes:

A Coca Cola executive (I kid you not) gave a keynote address and informed us of all the wonderful health promotion work Coca Cola does by creating jobs!!!

Other corporate big-shots had similar spiels. Participants from non-government organizations (including Fran and Zafrullah Chowdhury from the IPHC) were so alarmed that they signed an open letter pointing out that the private sector can also be extremely destructive to health. For a copy of the letter, or to join in the protest of the way some TNCs try to manipulate health policies to increase their profits, write to Fran Baum, c/o Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford Park 5042, Australia; E-mail: Fran.Baum@flinders.edu.au.

Scholarships for ecological studies at Schumacher College

Scholarships for a wide range of 10-day courses on ecological anthropology and people’s interrelationship with the environment are available for US citizens at Schumacher College, London. Contact: Administrator, Schumacher College, The Old Postern, Dartington, Totnes, Devon, T09 6EA, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 1803 865934; Fax: +44 (0) 1803 866899; Email: schmcoll@gn.apc.org; www.gn.apc.org.schumachercollege.

PROJIMO Launches New Skills-Training Program

PROJIMO needs donations of Windows-capable computers and leather, wood, and metal-working tools, as well as short-term instructors to help the local program facilitators develop this new program.

Politics of Health, Annotated Reading List

The International People’s Health Council (IPHC) is updating its Politics of Health reading lists. If you want to help, or to suggest new entries, please contact David Werner at HealthWrights. (IPHC folks who already offered to help, please respond ASAP!)