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Health workers from PSI member unions across the world played a key role at the 2026 World Health Assembly (WHA79) in Geneva. PSI’s delegation brought frontline health worker voices into global decision-making, demanding stronger public health systems, universal health coverage (UHC), fair workforce policies, and people-centred approaches that put health workers and communities before profit.
Amid funding cuts and attacks on multilateralism, PSI unions are pushing for genuine transformative action rather than diluted commitments.
At a major side event on “The Economics of Health for All: Taking Action”, co-hosted by PSI with partners including UNU-IIGH, the Government of Colombia, G2H2 and Oxfam, health workers highlighted the need for increased public funding to plug the global health workforce shortage.
Citing the Alma-Ata Declaration and lessons from COVID-19, PSI urged Member States to deliver urgent, radical reforms that prioritise public services and put people before profit.
Dr. Kahura Mundia, Deputy National Chairperson of Kenya’s KMPDU and President of the Kenya Dental Association, played a key role in PSI's delegation, amplifying frontline perspectives on fortifying health systems, advancing UHC, and strengthening global health governance.
María Fernanda Boriotti, President of Argentina’s FESPROSA, attended the WHA for the first time. Following the far-right Milei government's recent withdrawal from the orgnaisaiton, she held a protest inside the Palais des Nations, displaying the Argentine flag with a poster reading “Argentina is not leaving the WHO.” She denounced rising infant and maternal mortality, falling vaccination rates, resurgent diseases, and the exclusion of vulnerable populations from care following her country’s policy shifts and WHO withdrawal. Argentine health workers continue nationwide strikes and mobilisations, fighting for decent work and the right to health for all.
Through PSI, organised health workers are ensuring that global health policy reflects the realities and demands of those who deliver care every day. Want to get involved with our global health work? Email [email protected]