A health worker excels - GK paramedics digitally empowered

Hi, I’m Sharmin, a 19-year-old with a big dream: to become a nurse and help people in need. Recently, I got accepted into the GK training program, which has been an incredible experience.

In 2023, International Women’s Day focused on “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”, and inspired by this, GK encouraged paramedics like me to learn computer skills alongside our regular training. I had never used a computer before—my older brother was the only one in our family who had one. But I quickly realized that knowing how to use Word and Excel is essential for any job nowadays.

Excel fascinated me. It’s like magic—it can calculate percentages and analyze data. Now, armed with this knowledge, I feel more confident during our door-to-door visits in rural villages. As a paramedic, I can provide health information effectively and be a first responder when needed.

This training is just the beginning, but I’m hopeful. The blend of healthcare and technology empowers me to serve my community better. Together, we can make a difference—one step at a time.

When a gender reveal isn't a good thing - testimony from a GK traditional birth attendee in Bangladesh

Halima, 57 years: "I received Traditional Birth Attenders (TBA) training from Gonoshasthay Kendra (GK) and began working in my village. In Bangladesh, maternity care often occurs at home due to stigma around women going to hospitals. As a TBA, I provide health advice to pregnant women and support them during follow-up visits with GK paramedics and I also bring them to our sub-centers for ultrasound scans. Unfortunately, I sometimes encounter uncomfortable situations where families try to know the fetus’s gender. This can be dangerous: if it’s a boy, often the family is very happy and the mother praised and taken care of. However, if it’s turns out to be a girl, families can be unhappy and can blame the mother, neglect her or even lead to physical and mental abuse them.

To prevent this, in 2020, the Bangladesh High Court issued a rule to prevent gender-based discrimination against unborn children. GK not only abides this but to contribute addressing this serious issue, has incorporated gender awareness into our midwifery training. Through workshops, we educate elders and family members that woman are not responsible for a baby’s gender and that daughters are just as much of a blessing as sons. Within our role of traditional birth attendees, we can help eliminate discrimination and contribute to dismantling societal stigma.

Since my gender awareness training, I’ve actively promoted change within many  families and villages and have been proud to witness this."

No to contractualization; Yes to a national minimum wage! - Philippines 2019

"I’m Analou Paquera, 27 years old and currently working in the UNI ELEMENTS ENTERPRISES located in Malanday, Valenzuela City (Manila metropole). I was born in Cotabato, Mindanao and I choose to migrate to go in Manila to look for a better job because of lack of opportunities in my province. I am working in UNI ELEMENT since 2015 as part of the production line. I make the chemicals that are necessary to produce liquid soap and bath soap.
In 2015, my salary was 250PHP (4,5 euros) for 12 hours of work. I had no benefits like SSS (social security), PhilHealth or any other social insurance. In the company there are many violations of the labour law by the employer, lack of overtime payment, 13th month pay. The workers are also exposed to the chemicals without protective equipment, which are very harmful. In 2019, I met the organizer of Young Christian Workers (YCW) in Malanday Valenzuela with my fellow workers and we have shared about of all the young workers in the UNI ELEMENTS Factory. We decided to organize my fellow workers to change our reality.
We filed a case in the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for the violation of the minimum wage regulations, for the non-remittance of our social insurance benefits and to get our underpaid salary of a period of almost 5 years. After negotiating with the employer and the DOLE, we finally got our unpaid salary. My employer paid me 45.000 pesos (800 USD) back pay. He was also forced to increase my daily salary from 250 pesos (4,5 euro) to 700 pesos (12,5 euro).
Our experience in organizing to demand salary increase was not easy. We have faced many challenges in organizing dialogue and negotiations with the employer and the DOLE, because we didn’t know before how to do it. But YCW helped us by sharing their own experience on how to deal with this. As of now, we still need to continue to organize the workers here in UNI ELEMENTS because even though my salary was increased, my job status is still as contractual worker.”

Political, economic and social context of the Philippines
Throughout 2019, the Philippino government continued curtailing the freedom of speech and association of human and labour rights activists, independent journalists and trade unions. With Executive Order 70 the red-tagging of progressive workers’ organizations as communist and terrorist organizations has intensified. The authorities have already used EO70 to target local unions in areas where there are Chinese investments.  At the International Labour Conference in Geneva the ILO decided to schedule a high-level mission to the Philippines for an investigation into the killing of 43 labour activists in the last 3 years, a mission which to date the Philippino authorities has not yet allowed to enter the country. In the meantime, due to the passing of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN) in 2018 prices of basic goods and services continued to rise in 2019. One study found that the law can create a monthly loss of up to 3.000 pesos (± 53 euro) per family. Last year the Expanded Maternity Leave was adopted, extending maternity leave with full pay from 60 to 105 days. A Universal Health Care Act was also passed, supposedly lowering out-of-pocket health expenses but according to the partner organizations, this law will only contribute to the further commercialization and privatisation of public health care services.

"We do not want to be portrayed as heroes who have been thrown to the battle without the protective gear and support from the government to fight our unseen enemies. We cannot accept to end our lives in vain" Philippines - COVID-19: Health workers on the frontlines

Nurse from Philippine Orthopedic Center with
her call: Stop Discrimination to Health Workers

Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) pushes the government to urgently take measures that will ensure the safety and well-being of health workers. Health workers are overworked and underpaid, and public hospitals are understaffed. The pandemic of COVID-19 has worsened the situation of health workers. They have to work 12 hours duty for 7 straight days without any additional compensation. Therefore, AHW urges the government to begin conducting mass testing to all public hospital workers and in communities as well, in order to prevent rapid infection.

The Department of Health has already purchased 1 million of personal protective equipment (PPE).  However, this is not enough: “lack of PPE and health personnel means death to our frontline health workers”, said Mr. Sobinsky, AHW Public Relations Officer. “To strengthen the public hospitals the government should increase the health budget with 5% of the GDP and hire and train more regular health workers to handle COVID-19 patients”.

 AHW denounces the increasing number of cases of discrimination against health workers. In a press statement, AHW also expressed their solidarity regarding the harassment and mass arrest perpetrated by police forces against the residents of Sitio San Roque in Quezon City last April 1st who decried the government to provide them food for their subsistence.

Find below the AHW statement for April 9, 2020, the DAY OF VALOR: So much of Appreciation, Health Workers need Protection
AHW joins the Filipino people in commemorating the “Day of Valor” also known as “Araw ng Kagitingan” which commemorates the bravery and heroism of the Filipino people who helped bring democracy and freedom in the Philippines during World War II era. 

ILO overview of COVID-19 measures implemented by governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations, and the ILO for the Philippines: link

Act against the privatization of public hospitals in the Philippines

Political, economic and social context

In 2018, the political situation in the Philippines still deteriorated in comparison to the previous year, as the Philippino government, under the guise of an all-out war against drug lords and terrorists, continued its crackdown on civil society organisations, human and labour rights activists and indigenous people. The martial law which was imposed in Mindanao in 2017 was extended to the whole region of Visayas and to Bicol (as the so-called ‘State of Lawlessness’), raising concerns that soon it will cover the whole of the Philippino territory. Heavy military operations have also been expanding, while military officials have been placed in key government positions. 

Social activism, mobilization and organising of workers becomes increasingly difficult and dangerous, due to a climate of indiscriminate violence and extrajudicial killings. The administration passed the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN), which sparked a lot of protest from progressive labour and pro-poor organisations, as the excise tax on oil products contributed to the rise of inflation in 2018 (up to 6,7% in October 2018). The tax reform and subsequent sharp rise in the price of basic commodities affected mostly poor workers who have to get by on a daily minimum wage (in Manila) of 512 pesos (±8,2 euro).

Medical staff in Manila hospital

"My name is Rose Ann. I have been employed as a laboratory technician grade 1 for four years now but by training am a medical technologist. While I was applying for a better suited and paid position of medical technologist 2, I was charged with a case to pay 35.000PHP (600€) for some spilled reagent. The Alliance of Health Workers’ union in our hospital met with the head of the laboratory and found out that the chief of the department wanted to give the position I was applying for to his niece, who was still had to pass her final exams. It seems he didn’t want to give me, the current laboratory technician, the position but he wanted to wait for his niece to pass the board exam and give it to her.AHW filed a complaint and notified the director of this potential abuse, and four of us health workers got promoted to medical technologist grade 2. The hospital also acquitted me of the 35.000PHP, determining the real cause was a malfunctioning of the machine indicator, while I had correctly followed the Standard Operating Procedure."

Act against the privatization of public hospitals, health facilities and health services

In three hospitals, AHW could negotiate an ‘end-of-the-year-incentive’ of 25.000 pesos (±430 euro). In two other hospitals, 475 health workers – nurses as well as administrative staff – could be regularized.

Health workers and their organizations, among which the Alliance of Health Workers, obtained a (small) success in the House of Representatives with the passing of the ‘Act prohibiting the privatization and corporatization of public hospitals, public health facilities and public health services’ which states that “the State has to ensure the protection and promotion of the right to health of the people and to make essential goods, health and other services available to all people at affordable cost”. No public hospital, health facility or health service shall be privatized and 90% of total bed capacity in public hospitals has to be allocated to indigent/poor patients. However, the law can only be enacted when a similar bill is being introduced and passed in the Senate.

Philippines in numbers in 2018: Main results

Labour standards:
Health workers: In 2018 the AHW reached out to some 110.920 health workers and Philippino patients (of which 54 % women and 51% young people). Through social media and campaign materials some 100.000 health workers  were informed about the issues of public sector health workers, such as contractualization and privatization of hospitals. In four hospitals, a new collective negotiations agreement has been ratified with another hospital, negotiations are ongoing, potentially creating better union rights for 5.127 health workers. Bill n°7437 prohibiting the privatization of public hospitals and public health services was passed in the House of Representatives.
Young workers: In 5 locations (Manila, Negros, Ilo-ilo, Cebu, Camarines Norte) 1.488 young people (young workers, students, of which 39 % women) were organized and trained by the YCW on basic labour rights, contractualization, the TRAIN – law, social and economic problems of youth and how to overcome them.
National minimum wage and social protection for workers in the private sector: Trade union confederation KMU raised the awareness of 44.298 Philippino workers (of which 49% women and 49% young people) on the need for a national minimum wage and the end to contractualization. 1.062 workers, some of them working in expert-processing zones or multinational companies,  participated in different activities: basic training, mobilizations, legal assistance.
Joint advocacy: The three WSM partner organisations are key partners in the All Workers’ Unity, an alliance of different labour centers who are advocating for a national minimum wage of 16.000PHP/month in the public sector, 750PHP/day in the private sector and against contractualization. In 2018, the campaign of the alliance reached some 40.000 workers (of which 25% women and 30% young workers).

Partner organizations in the Philippines: AHW (Alliance of Health Workers’ unions), KMU (trade union confederation), YCW Philippines (young workers’ organisation), Philippines Synergy network (core organisations of the AWU – All Workers’ Unity)
Budget 2018: 75.627,76 euro
Donor: DGD, LBC-NVK
Program: 2017-2021

Prevention is better than the cure (AREDS)

I have been working as a health worker with AREDS for the past 18 years. I have two daughters and my husband works in a trade union sector with AREDS for unorganized workers. I started the work because of the support from my husband. My husband believes that, if you approach things with a positive state of mind, we can change things, we can do great things. That positive energy pushed me to go work in the same field. Now, I work with pregnant women. I try to ensure continuous follow up and a trust relationship with each family. We’re not there just for one or two months, we follow the same family for over five years. It means we sort of become members of that family. I provide classes to the adolescent girls, where we talk about diseases and hygiene and sexual and reproductive health. Here, there is still a tradition that says that women can’t go outside if they are menstruating or be in a group. So there are still many misconceptions to educate people about. – Dhanalakshmi, AREDS

Access to health is one of the two priority areas for AREDS in the south of India and it believes prevention is very important. Almost 3.800 people (78% women and 80% adolescents) attended sessions on basic health, hygiene and reproductive health issues. While developing alternatives on a local level, AREDS increased awareness in 2018 of over 8.000 members on preventive health practices, water and environment sanitation, breast feeding, organic food growing and consumption, and on the uses of native medicines.

The ANRSP meets in Manila

Almost fifty participants, members of the Asia Network on the Right to Social Protection (ANRSP) gathered for six days in Manila to discuss the issues decent living income and social protection. With the input from various international experts, like from the ILO, WageIndicator, ITUC and ITUC Asia Pacific, as well as from experiences in the Philippines regarding the state of the health system, two members from each of the eighteen WSM partners from the six Asia countries agreed on elements to be included in a living wage, compared methodologies and applied them in their national context and found current minimum wages largely insufficient.
A common position on minimum living wage was drafted by the steering committee members, before the participants went on field visits organized by the WSM Filippino partners to a jeepney union and two public hospitals.

Before the second half of the meeting, which focused on social protection, started,  OKRA from Belgium and GK from Bangladesh jointly facilitated a session on the impact of elderly in society and the links it has with social protection. The two other networks in Asia focusing on social protection, the Network for Transformative Social Protection and the Asia Round Table on SP also explained their priorities and how we could complement each other’s work. At the end, plans for the international network on the right to social protection were also discussed as well as the action plan for the years to come and where the network would be advocating. Participants afterwards expressed a 84% satisfaction of the content and how useful it was for them, stating it “helps me a lot to understand the various issues affecting the lives of the people especially in terms of SP and DLI. It helps me to see the whole picture of what kind of SP we have in Asia.”

Access to health is also about people in it: the Health workforce

Access to health isn't simply about infrastructure, hospitals and medication, it is also about the nurses, doctors and other health practitioners that are a part of it. A key advice for the WHO Workforce 2030 and the actors working on it would be to move away from focusing on the instrumentalist, utilitarian role of the health workforce in economic growth and labour markets, and rather emphasise the intrinsic value of a competent workforce in improving health outcomes and reducing health inequalities.


The migration of health professionals is at the junction of the right to mobility, right to health and the right to decent work. It is about finding an acceptable compromise between the rights and obligations of migrant workers, employers and governments based on sound research findings

Illustration: Thailand
Thailand has four decades of experience with strategies for solving the inequitable distribution of human resources for health (HRH) between urban and rural areas. There are four key components in these strategies: (1) Development of rural health infrastructure. (2) Educational strategies including rural recruitment, training and hometown placement. (3) Professional-replacement strategies such as training in basic medical care capacities for rural health personnel. (4) Financial strategies such as a compulsory public service, incentives for working in rural services, payback for tuition fees by rural public work, reform of the health care financing system to Universal Coverage Health Scheme.

Fresh release: Health care and Social protection

A high quality health care system is one of the pillars of social protection and is a sine qua non condition for a global population with better health. The ILO Recommendation 202 includes:

• access to a nationally defined set of goods and services, constituting essential health care and including maternity care, that meets the criteria of availabilit, accessibility, acceptability and quality;
• basic income security (especially in cases of sickness, unemployment, maternity or disability)

These two pillars of social protection demonstrate a clear link between individuals' state of health and their access to health care.

The campaign on Social Protection for all has just come out with a report on Health Care, examining negative effects of policies that promote private and commercial initiatives, opening up of markers and budgetary austerity. It also proposes some avenues for reflection and puts forward some alternatives.

Stories from the South: Dhanalakshmi, from AREDS

Dhanalakshmi shared this story with us:
I have been working as a health worker with AREDS for the past 18 years. I have two daughters, one who is twenty years old, named Anuschka, doing her second year MBB and my second daughter is doing tenth standard. My husband works in a trade union sector with AREDS for unorganized workers. I started the work because of the support from my husband. My husband believes that, if you approach things with a positive state of mind, we can change things, we can do great things. That positive energy pushed me to go work in the same field. Now, I work with pregnant women and since I’m happy, I can give words of encouragement to the pregnant women. I believe that if pregnant women receive positive energy and words, they can give birth more easily and to a healthy child. So we should all strive to have positive energy and thoughts. 





I try to ensure continuous follow up and a trust relationship with each family. We’re not there just for one or two months, we follow the same family for over five years. It means we sort of become members of that family. Starting with the pregnant mother, being there for the delivery, to when the child turns five years old, it creates a real bond. 

My first daughter got in the nursing school on merit basis, because of her high marks on the final examination, so she didn’t have to pay admission, but the other expenses for uniforms and study material are still very high. We get some support from AREDS, and we also have some land that we farm. Both our parents have also contributed from their savings.  I’m also a member and the coordinator of a self-help group supported by SWATE, which also promotes the education of the girls of members and provides educational support for higher studies.