We encourage you to make an end-of-year donation to help support the continuing work of HealthWrights.

Empowerment of those in need: For many years HealthWrights (Workgroup for People’s Health and Rights) has helped promote the well-being and inclusion of people and groups who are marginalized, denigrated, or not given a fair chance. Through personal involvement in such people’s lives and communities, we have developed and easy-to-understand health and disability-related educational materials, some of which have had worldwide impact. In addition to providing critically important information to millions of people, these materials have had a major influence on the concept and practice of Primary Health Care, Community Based Rehabilitation, and other global strategies now promoted by WHO and UNICEF—helping to make them more participatory, more empowering, and more committed to changing the underlying socio-political determinants of health.

Scaling up of enabling methods and materials: Having been immersed in small grassroots health and disability initiatives for decades, we at HealthWrights are now focusing on disseminating our experiences and resources. We have been facilitating hands-on workshops in many countries, and are producing new tools of communication, such as educational videos and DVDs. We are digitalizing the sets of teaching slides we developed earlier, so as to greatly reduce the costs of distribution. Likewise, all our books and learning material have an “Open Copyright Policy” allowing anyone to freely copy, translate, or adapt them.

Renovated websites: With the help of dedicated volunteers, HealthWrights has just redesigned and updated our Politics of Health website (www.politicsofhealth.org), making it more attractive, searchable, and interactive. We invite all of you concerned for the long-term health and survival of humanity and life on the planet to explore our site, and to take action. We are also looking for volunteers to help maintain the site or contribute relevant articles. Our HealthWrights website (www.healthwrights.org) is also being renovated. All our books are are now freely accessible online, as are our newsletters, which can now be searched by topic.

Volunteer: Recent changes to the way we are using technology to manage Healthwrights have made it more possible than ever for you to volunteer your time from where ever you might live. All you’ll need is time and an internet connection. We need folks skilled in graphic arts, accounting, page layout, writing and editing, publication, website administration, website development, web programming and more. It’s a great way to help us become more sustainable and continue the good works we do long into the future. Don’t have those skills but have talent and heart? We can train you! Just email volunteer@healthwrights.org.

HELP grassroots programs in poor countries get this newsletter: The Newsletter from the Sierra Madre reaches people and programs in nearly 120 countries. We encourage readers to subscribe to the email rather than the printed version, since printing and mailing costs have soared . However many people in grassroots programs prefer the printed version. Please, when you make a contribution and receive this newsletter, consider donating enough to cover the costs for a person or program in a poor country.

Growing needs in hard times: In these difficult times, HealthWrights and the community programs it collaborates with in Mexico are having a hard time making ends meet. The recession—with deepening poverty, joblessness, and hunger—has hit the poor in Mexico much harder than in the US. High costs of medical care devastates many families.

One example is Moises, an adolescent with spina bifida who stays at PROJIMO and goes to school in Coyotitan (see his photo on the cover page). The Stichting Liliane Fonds, a charitable NGO in Holland, has helped with his many medical emergencies, but now his mother has a non-malignant yet invasive facial tumor that requires costly surgery. Since Liliane Fonds only helps the young, HealthWrights is trying to find ways to cover the cost. If you are able to make a donation to help Moises’ mother get life-saving surgery, please earmark your donation accordingly. Moises' family is only one of many we are close to who are struggling to manage in these difficult times.