 I
HCO General Assembly:
The eye on structural questions
The IHCO General Assembly was celebrated in connection to the ICA GA in Geneva on the 18th of November 2009. A key issue was the future of the ICA’s sectoral organisations, such as IHCO, within the new ICA structure.
Following a last-minute meeting between representatives from the sectoral organisations and the ICA Governance Committee, it was decided that the SO’s are given the opportunity to present a new and viable proposal for a sectoral organisations structure. This is to be suggested to the new ICA Board during the spring of 2010.
Due to the uncertainty regarding structural issues the IHCO has had a few activities in 2009. However, as the regional representatives reported, several activities have taken place in Asia and the Americas.
The uncertainty also had consequences with regard to the election of regional vice presidents. Swedish member organisation Medicoop is in a structural limbo, pending a decision on its ICA membership status. The GA decided to elect Medicoop’s Mr. Per-Olof Jönsson as Vice President for Europe, provided that the membership matter is resolved.
New Vice President for the Americas is Dr. Eudes Freites de Aquino from Brazilian Unimed, and Vice President for Asia is Dr. Shuitsu Hino from Japanese JCCU.
Malaysian KDM start co-op pharmacies
Dr. Jagdev Singh Deo from Koperasi Doktor Malaysia informed the IHCO GA that the Malaysian organisation intends to start new co-operative pharmacies in Malaysia.
- We do not ask for money, Dr. Deo continued. We only wish to have the support from the co-operative community inasmuch as they consider us as suppliers for pharmaceuticals in the future.
Report from Saskatchewan conference now on-line
The Centre for the Study of Co-operatives of the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, has prepared a Report related to the International Conference on health co-operative that took place on October 30th 2008 in Saskatoon, Canada.
The documentation from the Saskatoon Conference still available on the WEB site of Centre,
http://www.usaskstudies.coop/coophc/
- I want to take this opportunity to warmly thank our friends from the Centre for their commitment in organising, networking, and editing this Conference, says IHCO Commissioner for North America, Mr. Jean-Pierre Girard from CCA.
José Pérez new Secretary-General
Following the retirement of highly appreciated IHCO Secretary-General Mr. Estanislau Simón, Mr. José Pérez from Spanish Fundación Espriu was assigned as new Secretary-General for the IHCO at the General Assembly in Geneva.
- We all want to express our gratitude to Estanislau for his dedication and fine work, said IHCO President Dr. José Carlos Guisado. At the same time, we warmly welcome José, and look forward to having him with us over the coming years.
Health Co-op Survey
The first official output coming from IHCO’s health co-op survey includes five national cases from Benin, Canada, Mail, Uganda and USA; countries with very different health systems.
Each case includes a snapshot of the national health system, information on the presence of health co-operatives, some short cases studies, and practical references. It is based on a survey conducted in 2007 with the kind collaboration of many people involved in health co-ops and other relevant organisations located in targeted countries.
The project has been sponsored by several Canadian organisations, including major contributions from the two leading organisations, Co-operators and Desjardins Financial securities.
Download the case studies in pdf format (in English only):
• Benin
•Canada
•Mali
•Uganda
•USA
Conference on health co-op, Saskatoon, Canada, October 30th 2008
Organised by the Centre for the Study of Co-operative at the University of Saskatchewan and the Community Health Co-operative Federation, a one-day conference took place in Saskatoon. Offering an overview of health co-op from around the world and other national example such the one of Espriu Foundation of Spain, Japanese Health co-ops, Medicoop (Sweden) and FAESS (Argentina), the conference offered an opportunity to compare those examples with the one of Saskatchewan health Co-operatives. The presentation can be downloaded at: http://www.usaskstudies.coop/coophc/
Study tour among community health co-operatives in Saskatchewan (Canada)
Lead by Jean-Pierre Girard, Commissioner for North America and board member (IHCO), a study tour was organised at the end of October 2008 among Saskatchewan (Canada) Community Health co-operatives (CHC). They included the co-ops of Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert. The group gathered participants from 2 Canadians provinces – Manitoba and Quebec – and visitors from Japan, mainly from Nagano health co-op.
Operating since 1962, CHC became leading organisations, in health promotion and prevention, recognition of social health determinants and multidisciplinary health practice. CHC is governed by a volunteer board of directors and places a high value on democratic
decision-making. The study tour also included working session with official from regional health authority and provincial health ministry.
New Health Coop in Sherbrooke University has its website
The Coop santé de l’Université de Sherbrooke, coopérative de solidarité has seen the light of day in 2007 in the province of Québec, Canada, as the first health cooperative founded in a university setting.
By gathering together students, personnel and various categories of supporting members, this cooperative aims at uniting members of the university community around issues of health promotion and prevention, key factors for maintaining good health.
This health coop will progressively make full use of available university professional and complementary resources including doctors, nurses, kinesiologists and psychologists. Its website already offers an interactive health risks assessment service providing users with strategies to improve their lifestyle habits in areas such as nutrition, physical activity, and psychological health.
The health coop intends to focus mainly around helping its members develop healthier living habits. This sustainable orientation is in line with one of the seven major challenges of the next decade identified by the general population and scientists as part of a vast enquiry conducted by the Conseil de la science et de la technologie du Québec. On a more global scale, the commitment of the Université de Sherbrooke health coop also corresponds to one of the four main priorities established by the World Health Organization: encouraging good eating habits and physical activity.
The board of directors of the health coop is made up of seven user members and four supporting members. Jean-Pierre Girard, IHCO board member, expert-counsel in collective health enterprises, teaching assistant and researcher associated with the IRECUS, acted as advisor to this project.
Visit the coop website at: www.USherbrooke.ca/coopsante
The II International Seminar on Health and Co-operatives, organised by the Espriu Foundation, was held in Madrid on 16 and 17 October
International health co-operativism debated in Madrid
More than 150 healthcare professionals from all over the world met in Madrid at the II International Seminar on Health and Co-operatives organised by the Espriu Foundation on 16 and 17 October, to debate the progress made in health Co-operation as a type of management that contributes added value to the healthcare systems of the future.
Over the two days of discussion, the opportunities provided by organisations like co-operatives became clear. As well as dealing with the problems in society, they aim to provide an effective response based on principles and values such as solidarity, democratic self-government, individuals taking priority over financial results and co-management.
Said Dr. José Carlos Guisado, Vice-president of the Espriu Foundation and President of IHCO:
“The objective of this seminar is to highlight the points shared by this type of organisations and how we can all put them into practice”.
The Vice-Minister of Health Planning and Infrastructures of the Madrid Department of Health, Ms. Belén Prado Sanjurjo, gave the closing address at the seminar.
“I want to stress how important it is for the healthcare system that governments come closer to the societies they represent, and that their involvement in them never entails a lack of freedom of choice for their patients”, she said.
"Nobody is calling the Spanish health system into question - what is needed is for it to adapt to today's world. The Spanish healthcare system is different and has shown that it guarantees fairness and does not make a distinction between public and private healthcare”, she added.
Conclusions of the seminar
Another subject discussed at the seminar was the phenomenon of human mobility, which also affects the health sector, with patients' mobility becoming a right. According to the experts who participated at the meeting, in order to achieve optimum mobility it is necessary to guarantee care for patients in different countries by co-operation between healthcare systems, and by establishing ways of compensation.
The Tallinn Charter of 2008 is good example of all this. However, social economy institutions must also participate by means of co-operation both on a mutual basis and between public healthcare systems. Among these are the NGO Alliance for Health Promotion promoted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), or the STEP initiative promoted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
This area was also the focus for debate on the type of organisations that make up the “Third Sector”. These are foundations, associations and co-operatives that are involved in a social economy developed to meet the needs of society, and which have citizens as their main players. It is also important to stress that the principles of these organizations are based on co-operative values.
“The most paradigmatic example for us are the health co-operatives formed by doctors and users according to the model developed by Dr. Espriu. These organisations are a response to a social demand, share risks and responsibilities, but are also organisations with a soul”, Dr. Guisado concluded.
The II International Seminar on Health and Co-operatives:
Social participation,
co-responsibility and co-management
in health systems
The II International Seminar on Health and Co-operatives, hosted by the Espriu Foundation is an international debate meeting among health professionals and users focused in social participation, co-responsibility and co-management in health systems where more than 250 participants over the world are expected.
Citizen’s participation in health system managing and free circulation of patients/citizens will be the main issues to deal with in a forum that pretends to open new realms regarding health co-operation and moving ahead in the enhancement of health protection systems.
Espriu Foundation came into existence to contribute to widen up the social values and the human and professional capital that the co-operative movement brings to the health sector and one of its aims is to foster and investigate its development and to look after its evolution, promotion and advocacy, always under the conceptual values of this movement.
Within Espriu Foundation four co-operatives co-exist, made up by health professionals and users: Autogestió-Sanitària, SCCL; Lavinia, S. Coop.; SCIAS, Instal.lacions Assistencials Sanitàries, SCCL; y ASISA, Asistencia Sanitaria Interprovincial de Seguros, SA, making a day-to-day reality the co-managing principle after Dr. Espriu’s philosophy.
The Seminar will be held on October 16 & 17, 2008 at the hotel Eurobuilding in Madrid. The entire programme is presented below, and more information is available on http://espriueventos.org
Programme:
Thursday, October 16th, 2008
12:00 - 14:00 Participant's accreditation
14:00 - 15:45 Lunch and welcome reception
Opening Remarks by the authorities
- Hon. Minister of Health
- Hon. Mayor of Madrid
16:00 - 17:00 Presentation of the Seminar
- Dr. Francisco Ivorra, President of the Espriu Foundation
- Mr. Iain McDonald, Director General of ICA
- Dr. José C. Guisado, President of IHCO
Free citizen's circulation at the global level
Introduction and coordination:
- Dr. Enrique de Porres, CEO of ASISA, Secretary of IHCO Europe
17:00 - 17:45 Keynote Speech
Learning from experience: The mobility of patients in the European Union. Special considerations of the Spanish case
- Mrs. Magdalene Rosenmoller, Professor and Scientific Coordinator of the
Project “Europe for Patients”, IESE Business School, Spain
17:45 - 18:00 Coffee break
18:00 - 18:45 Keynote Speech
Guiding principles for health care in Madrid.
Influence of free mobility of patients.
- Hon. Juan José Güemes, Minister of Health of the
Autonomous Community of Madrid
18:45 - 19:30 Discussion
Friday, October 17th, 2008
User participation in the management of health systems
Introduction and coordination:
- Dr. José C. Guisado, President of IHCO
9:00 - 9:45 The European charter of patients' rights
- Mrs. Ana Etchenique, Coordinator of Institutional Relations of the Spanish Confederation of Consumers and Users (CECU), Spain
9:45 - 10:30 The health programme of the World Bank
- Representative of Health of the World Bank (to be designated)
10:30 - 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 - 11:45 One step forward: The statement of Tallinn
- Mr. Joseph Kutzin, Director of the WHO Office in Barcelona,
Counsellor of the Finance Division of Health Systems of WHO
11:45 - 12:30 The Extension of Social Protection Programme of the ILO (STEP)
- Mr. Alain Coheur, STEP programme coordinator, ILO, Geneva
12:30 - 13:30 Discussion
14:00 - 15:30 Lunch
The choice of agents of social economy
Introduction and coordination:
- Dr. Ignacio Orce, President of Autogestiò SCCLPresident of
Assistència Sanitària Col.legial
15:30 - 16:15 The reality of the social economy
- Mr. Marcos de Castro, Head of Institutional Relations of Mondragon-MCC,
Former President of CEPES
16:15 - 17:00 The agents of social economy in Europe
- Mr. José Luís Monzón, President of CIRIEC Spain,
Honorary President of CIRIEC International
17:00 - 17:15 Coffee break
17:15 - 18:00 From social responsibility to co-management: Dr. Espriu's Integral Health Cooperativism
- Mrs. Mª Teresa Basurte, President of SCIAS - Hospital de Barcelona
18:00 - 18:30 Discussion and conclusions
18:30 a 19:00 Closing ceremony
- Hon. Minister of Health of the Autonomous Community of Madrid
- Hon. President of the Autonomous Community of Madrid
“The Role of Co-operatives in Health Care”
National and International Perspectives at Canadian Symposium
While Saskatchewan experiences health co-operatives as comprehensive primary care clinics governed by their members, co-operatives internationally own hospitals, manufacture pharmaceuticals, and operate long-term care facilities.
What do these international co-operatives look like? How did they develop? And domestically, how do Canadian co-operatives compare?
These are the essential questions that will be addressed at a health symposium in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, on October 30th. The Centre for the Study of Co-operatives at the University of Saskatchewan and the Community Health Co-operative Federation host the symposium.
Presentations on international health co-operatives will include:
• An overview of the co-operative health movement
• Unimed of Brazil
• Japanese Health Co-operative Association
• Espriu Foundation of Spain
• Medicoop, Sweden
Presentations of Canadian health co-operatives will include:
• Health care co-operatives in Canada and the United States
• The co-operative clinics in Saskatchewan – their role in primary health care
• Home care co-operatives. Member participation and quality of care
• Looking ahead: health care co-operatives and public policy.
Manual for Health Co-ops
INCOOP, a government entity in Paraguay who monitors the country’s co-operative legislation, has produced a series of useful manuals and documents for co-operatives, starting from the most basic and moving on to good practices and governance.
The materials include a 16-page manual on how to start a health co-operative. It is adapted to Paraguayan law in terms of what authorities that receives the registration and other details, but the procedures are universal and may be of interest to any Spanish- speaking group that has an interest in starting a co-operative.
On the web page you can also download a step-by-step guide to the co-operative start, responsibility division and descriptions and various templates.
You find the all on www.incoop.gov.py and then “Documentos de interés”.
Picture from CCA Local Food Initiative’s document
Local Food Initiatives in Canada
Canadian CCA has compiled a document on national local food initiatives. It shows not only the benefits of locally produced food from a health perspective, but also in terms of economy and environment.
Some facts from the Canadian reality are sure to apply to most Western countries:
• Half of the food produced in Canada is exported, whereas half the food consumed is imported
• Two-thirds of all fruits and vegetables are imported from 150 countries
• A regional study shows that food consumed in that regions has travelled an average of 4,500 km
Practices, examples and policies are presented in the document, that can be seen on www.coopscanada.coop/aboutcca/gapp/govsubmissions/
2nd National Forum for Health Co-operatives
Argentinean FAESS invites to its 2nd National Forum for Health Co-operatives, to be held in the Medical Science Faculty in Rosario on the 4-5 of July, 2008.
This forum follows the first one, that was held in Buenos Aires on the 4-5 of May, 2007, and that was attended by more than 150 persons from over 100 organisations.
The forum will address issues that are vital to the development and growth of the co-operative health sector, a sector that embraces more than 200 co-operative units and give services to more than 500,000 persons in Argentine. Topics that will be addressed in particular are:
• Health co-operative network
• Legislation and rules in the sector
• Debate on suggestions to promote preventive health campaigns in different areas.
Preliminary program:
Friday 4th of July
8. 30 Registration. Coffee
9.30 Opening
9.45 Conference: The situation in the Health and Solidarity Co-operative sector
10.30 Coffee
10.45 Round table: Health Co-operativism: commitment to the community (table with representatives from the Health Ministry, the Faculty of Medicine of Rosario etc.)
12.00 Debate
12.30 Lunch
Workshops
13.30 -15.00 National Network of co-operative and solidarity attention. Framework agreement.
15.15-16.15 The healthiest communities. Action proposals for a federal preventive campaign.
16.30 - 17.30 Legal and normative framework of the health and solidarity co-operative sector.
17.45-18.45 Solidarity health management. Workshop with the Faculty of Medicine of Rosario.
Saturday 5th of July
9.00 Coffee
9.30-10.15 Presentation: Co-operative and Mutual agreement for health prevention
10.15 Conference: how the UNIMED health co-op network in Brazil was
established
11.00 Coffee
11.15 Conclusions from the workshops
11.45 Presentation of agreements. Final document.
12.30 Closure
13.00 Lunch. Honours to the International Day of Co-operation.
IHCO Board Meeting
The Board of the IHCO held its meeting in Madrid on the 6th of May, preceded by a meeting of the IHCO Europe board the day before. The main issue was do discuss the IHCO’s position as a structural organisation of the ICA before the extra General Assembly in June.
IHCO President, Dr. José Carlos Guisado, presented the work done by the Sectoral Organisations’ Liaison Group, and also the amendments to the ICA restructuring that this group proposed to the GA. The Board decided to approve these amendments, and also to cancel IHCO’s working agreement with ICA, pending the outcome of the GA.
Othedr issues of importance was the admittance of the regional organisation for Asia and the Pacific, APHCO, as a member of IHCO, and the reports from the different regions. These reports will be published under the “Publications” menu of our web page in the future.
IHCO members Fundación Espriu of Spain and Fundação Unimed of Brazil also informed on their joint effort to create The Co-op for Life Initiative, COOPLIFE, an organisation aimed at raising funds and managing health and social aid projects.
Alicia Kirchner launches Prize
On the 29th of May, the Minister for Social Development and President of the National Council for the Coordination of Social Politics, Ms. Alicia Kirchner, officially launched the “Latin American Prize of the Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo” to the Participative Investigation Action, a UNESCO program aiming at uniting social science research to the construction of social politics. The initiative will award the best projects of the Participative Investigation Action.
Among the personalities from different sectors present at the meeting, FAESS President Dr. Ricardo López represented the international health co-operative movement.
The research guidelines for the prize are:
• Alternative tourism; projects that facilitate the creation of local and regional modules for alternative and ecological tourism services
• Alternative energy: projects for the production and management of renewable alternative energy
• Health: the development of models for prevention, primary assistance and a healthy life through participative means (co-ops and mutuals), a research sector that is sponsored by FAESS.
Caption: Totally destroyed clinic was reconstructed and extended to include a centre for small and medium-sized business
Japanese Reconstruction in Java
A devastating earthquake in May 2006 killed almost 6,000 people and destroyed or damaged up to 400,000 houses in Central Java. As part of the reconstruction process, Japanese HCA-JCCU financed the reconstruction of a health clinic.
Following the disaster, the ILO Jakarta Office supported the Government of Indonesia, and its social partners sought to assist with employment and rebuilding efforts. Among these efforts, one project being undertaken with funding from HCA-JCCU, was the reconstruction of clinics in Sidomulyo village in the Bantul district. The efforts by local people to rebuild the clinics were abandoned in August 2006, due to shortage of funds and other problems.
With funding by HCA-JCCU, two specific buildings in Sidomulyo village were to be reconstructed. These will be used as a public health clinic and local economic development clinic that will provide consultation services to local small and middle-sized enterprises. More than 30 construction workers were employed to complete the work in around 30 working days.
Upon completion of the reconstruction work, the Head of Bantul District Health Office, Ms. Siti Noor Zaenab, officially opened the clinic. More than 20 invitees representing the Manpower, Health, and Industry Ministries, Cooperatives Offices of Bantul district, and local representatives from Sidomulyo village attended the ceremony. In her remarks, Ms. Zaenab officially recognized the reconstructed clinic as a POSKESDES (Village Health Clinic), making it part of the District government’s programme in providing health services. She also reconfirmed the commitment of the Health Office to support the provision of health services through the clinic.
International co-operation and health care protection
Dr. José C. Guisado, president of IHCO and CEO of the Espriu Foundation, participated in the meeting of the International Cooperation Commission (ICC) of the Association Internationale de la Mutualité held in Brussels on the 11th March.
The conference given by the IHCO president, entitled Health co-operatives and their role in the health system and in the extension of health care protection, explained to almost sixty leaders and mutual fund representatives from various parts of the world, what health co-operatives consist of and the role they perform in the expansion of social protection.
In this sense, Dr. Guisado showed several representative examples of the various models of existent co-operative organisations under the umbrella of IHCO. He highlighted the strongly rooted health care service co-operatives for users in Japan, the different doctors’ co-operatives, including Unimed of Brazil, the Belgian pharmaceutical co-operatives and the integrated user and professional model developed by the Espriu Foundation.
Dr. Guisado also shared a round-table with Alain Coheur, president of ICC, Ondrej Simek, representative of the general office for development of the European Commission and Christian Jacquier, coordinator of the program Strategies and tools against social exclusion and poverty (STEP), from the International Labour Organization. During the debate, innovative ideas were suggested to improve European Union development policies, enlarge health care protection and promote collaboration between mutual funds and co-operatives.
The ICC is a working group that belongs to the Association Internationale de la Mutualité (AIM), whose principal objective is to provide and exchange information about advances in the field of health care, reforms within the health care systems and, in particular, the financing of health care and the role of the mutual funds. Likewise, it works on advances in accessing medications in countries with average or low incomes. AIM is part of the International Alliance for the Extension of Social Protection, an organization of which the IHCO is a founder member.
Caption: Marc-Henry Cornély and José C. Guisado
Dr. Guisado, accompanied by Dr. Josep O. Gras and Estanislau Simón, vice-president and general director, respectively, of the Espriu Foundation, also met in Brussels with Marc-Henry Cornély, secretary of the Belgium Organization of Cooperative Pharmacies (OPHACO).
OPHACO, an outstanding member of IHCO, is an organization that contains almost 600 co-operative pharmacies who represent 20% of the Belgian market and provide employment to 3,500 people.
During the meeting, impressions were exchanged about the current work performed by IHCO as a vertebral axis of the health care co-operatives movement, internationally, and about the possible future strategies when faced with the challenges caused by the restructuring process in the International Cooperative Alliance.
Both the OPHACO representative and the delegation from the Espriu Foundation agreed on the importance of the pharmaceutical sector within the framework of European health care co-operatives and committed to carry out combined efforts to strengthen the development and the activities of the European IHCO Committee.
Espriu Foundation joins Social Business Confederation
Spanish health co-operative Espriu Foundation has joined the Spanish Social Business Confederation of Social Economy (CEPES), as the representative for Spain’s health co-operatives.
CEPES was founded in 1992 and is a business confederation at a national level. It embraces several business sectors in the largest institution representing social economy in Spain, and it has established itself as a platform for an institutional dialogue with the public authorities.
CEPES represents more than 51,500 companies, with 2.4 million workers and over 10.7 million individual members.
7 new co-ops join Argentinean FAESS
Argentinean health co-op FAESS was considerably strengthened during 2007, as seven new co-operatives joined the organization. They are the Electricity Co-operative of Las Flores, the Provision and Credit Medical Co-operative of Villa María, the M.A.S. Co-operative System for Health Services and Other Services, the Unimed Medical Co-operative of Apóstoles, the Workers’ and Public Servants’ Provisional Co-operative of Gdor. Crespo, the Provisional Co-operative for the Practitioners of Family Medicine, and Service Co-operative of Candelaria.
. . . .
Para el traductor:
Estos son los nombres formales de la cooperativas que se han afiliado a FAESS:
Cooperativa de Electricidad de Las Flores Limitada.
Cooperativa Médica de Provisión y Crédito de Villa María Limitada
Sistema M.A.S Cooperativa Limitada de Servicios para Salud y otros servicios
UNIMED CAL Unidad Médica Cooperativa Apóstoles Ltda.
Coop.de Prov. de Obras y Serv. Pub.de Gdor. Crespo Ltda. (COOCRESER)
Coop.de Prov.de Serv. Grupo de Prácticas de Medicina Familiar Ltda.
Coop.de Servicios de Candelaria Ltda. (COSCAL)
First ACYM Meeting
The first meeting of the Co-Operative and Mutual America (ACYM) network was held in Montevideo, Uruguay, in November. IHCO was represented by Dr. Ricardo López, President of Argentinean health co-op FAESS.
ACYM is a regional network of co-operatives and mutuals with the aim to exchange and document experiences among actors that provide health care services.
The meeting was also attended by, among others, Mr. Christina Jacquier, Mr. Alain Coheur, and Ms. Victoria Giroud-Castella from ILO, Mr. Edward Potter from the Association of Co-operative and Mutual Insurance of America (ACC/MIS), and Mr. Philippe Swennen from the Association Internationale de la Mutualité (AIM).
Dr. López gave a detailed presentation of IHCI, its mission, aims and activities, and especially underlined the shared visions the organisation has with the members of ACYM on various issues.
At the same meeting, the ACYM’s new website was also launched. www.acym.net aspires to be a meeting-place for the members, and also a tool for work and promotion. Finally, a preliminary action plan for 2008 was suggested.
Promoting perfect sleep
British Co-operatives UK assists in a venture to improve sleeping comfort. Alphabeds, an innovative enterprise supported by The Co-operative Loan Fund, is going one step further to provide its customers with a good night's sleep.
The co-operative bed manufacturer offers a customising service which means that it can produce bed frames and mattresses in any size to suit its customers' requirements. As well as providing the perfect fit, Alphabeds uses organic materials from sustainable sources to ensure chemical-free comfort and to promote sounder sleep.
Mike Donoghue, manager at Alphabeds says: "The average person spends up to a third of their life in bed, so it's important that they find one that's right for them."
Alphabeds was originally established in London during the 1970s and has been 100% employee-owned since 2004 when its workers took over the running of the business after its original owner sought retirement. The ownership transfer was made possible via collected savings of the employees, guidance from The Wales Co-operative Centre and financial assistance from The Co-operative Loan Fund. It avoided the closure of the business and safeguarded over 20 jobs.
Belgian OPHACO against “malign sun”
Sun overexposure is one of the primary causes of skin cancer. In the European Union, more than 50,000 cases of malign melanom are detected every year. In Belgium alone, 1,000 cases are detected each year.
In May 2007, several Belgian health organisations along with the public health authorities launched the “Soleil Malin” campaign, an information campaign to spread as widely as possible the awareness to the piublic that effective sun protection is essential.
In 2006, the EU recommended the member nations to find a new labelling system for sun screens.
Dr. Almir Gentil
Unimed moves forward
Brazilian health co-operative Unimed has undertaken an important and significant journey over the last years. The organisation has consistently worked with – and refined – the Unimed branding and social responsibility projects.
28-30 of November, 200 marketing and social responsibility managers convened in Mogí das Cruzes, outside São Paulo, to further advance Unimed’s position.
Unimed yearly spends some 300 million USD on different health, social, and community activities throughout the country. They are presently engaged in more than 1,000 such projects.
"It is part of our outlook on society, says Dr. Almir Gentil, President of Unimed Foundation. Our entire business is based on the concept depicted in our slogan: “A good life is the best health plan. Unimed is second best”.
In this respect, the social responsibility project also form an important part of an overall Unimed process; the branding of a health co-operative enterprise.
Over the last six years, Unimed has launched a branding process, with the aim of creating an Unimed “mega-brand” in Brazil. This work has already led to several marketing awards, and they keep coming.
"We have rinsed among all the different floras of graphics, ads, typographies, and market approaches, Dr. Gentil explains. And we have now created a coherent profile for all Unimed departments and services.
At the Mogí conference, the latest piece of the puzzle was introduced – the new Unimed Brand Centre offers every singular clinic or department of Unimed an on-line bank with templates, designs, photos and guidelines. It was eagerly applauded by the 200 delegates, for whom the Brand Centre will offer a welcome tool to facilitate their daily work.
Now, the organisation has taken yet some m ore steps to advance its position. In several workshops, the delegates defined new goals for 2008. 14 new goals were set for next year’s endeavours in terms of communication, marketing and social responsibility, all of them aligned to the four core values: “Confidence, Diversity, Happiness and Unity”.
"Our gains over the last years have had the effect that our competitors start to copy our approach", says Dr. Gentil." We need to be constantly in the frontline to maintain our market position and to continue being the best health care alternative for the Brazilian people."
New Health Co-op in Sherbrooke University
A health co-operative is seeing the light of day for the first time in a university setting. On November 15, some 100 persons participated in the founding meeting of the Coop santé de l’Université de Sherbrooke, coopérative de solidarité.
Gathering together students, personnel and various categories of supporting members, this co-operative has the mission to unite the university community in issues of health through the commitment of university community members in promotion and prevention, key factors for maintaining a population in good health.
The health co-op will make full use of the available professional and complementary expertise including doctors, nurses, kinesiologists and psychologists. It could for example provide a health check-up, detect risk factors, and put in place strategies for better lifestyle habits regarding nutrition, physical activity, psychological health, reasonable alcohol consumption or even drug and smoking prevention measures.
In this way the health coop intends to offer programming mainly focused around the healthy living habits of its members. This sustainable orientation blends in perfectly with one of the seven major challenges that have been identified over the next ten years by the general population and scientists as part of a vast enquiry conducted by the Conseil de la science et de la technologie du Québec. On a more global scale, this commitment by the Université de Sherbrooke health coop also fits in with one of the four major priorities established by the World Health Organization: encourage good food habits and physical activity.
The board of directors of the health coop is made up of seven user members and four supporting members. IHCO board member Jean-Pierre Girard, expert-counsel in collective health enterprises, teaching assistant and researcher associated with the IRECUS, acts as advisor to this project.
International Health Co-op Forum
Tokyo 21-24 October 2007
“This forum is designed to address the challenges of today as well as the tasks for tomorrow”, said IHCO vice President and APHCO President, Dr Yasuyuki Takahashi in his opening remarks.
“Aiming at a society without health disparities and with dignity of life!
Considering today’s role and tomorrow’s challenges of health cooperatives.”
These were the themes at the International Health Co-operative Forum in Tokyo, arranged by Japanese HCA-JCCU as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations.
Dr. Takahasi started by pointing out the significance of the forum:
“One important part is to share with one another the situation of today’s global health, medical care and welfare, and to maintain fruitful exchanges between global health cooperative movements”, he said.
Dr. Takahashi also urged the forum to consider new and bigger tasks for the co-operative movement in general and health co-ops in particular.
“We need to consider the approaches to fight poverty and health disparities, and contribute to peace and global environment as tomorrow’s tasks”, he said.
In his speech he also dwelled on the forming of the Asia Pacific Health Co-operative Forum (APHCO) in 1997 in Nepal, where health co-ops from Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mongolia, Rep. of Korea, and Japan created the first autonomous network of health cooperatives in the world
“This started a process of mutual aid not only for exchanges, but also for the development of human resources, educational training, health activities and improvement of facility management”, he informed.
Dr. Takahashi also offered a Japanese overview of the role of the health co-operative in community development.
“We wish to develop a map of the ideal community, the so-called ‘dream map’”, he said.
“In order to do so, we need to identify principal community health issues, and establish mechanisms to meet people’s demands, and establish greater collaboration between health and medical welfare systems.”
As today’s role and challenges of health cooperative movement, Dr. Takahasi suggested the following 3 tasks and 2 challenges:
Tasks
Approach against poverty and health disparities
Fight against war and terrorism, and the strive to create peace
Approach against environmental devastation
Challenges
Healthy city building
Human development that advances the health cooperative movement
The Tokyo Declaration
The forum was attended by representatives from several health co-ops in Asia. Europe, Africa and the Americas, as well as by UN representatives. The presented information on the current health situation in several countries.
Adjoining the forum, the participants also had the opportunity to visit health co-operatives in and around Tokyo.
The forum concluded by adopting a Tokyo Declaration, addressing the issues of poverty, peace, the environment, the creation of healthy communities, and the exchange and training of work force, and promising to meet again after five years to evaluate the efforts in these fields.
IHCO Predident, Dr. José Carlos Guisado, offered the closing remarks, giving his tribute to Dr Kato, and consequently to Dr. Takahashi, for their efforts in the creation of APHCO, and concluded:
“We commit ourselves to these agendas and look forward to meeting again in five years in Japan to see what we will have accomplished.”
Caption: Dr. Takahasi and IHCO President Dr. José Carlos Guisado with the Tokyo Declaration.
Read the entire Tokyo Declaration >>>
From the IHCO General Assembly
The IHCO celebrated its General Assembly in Singapore on the 17th of October, preceding the ICA General Assembly procedures.
Major attention was given to the present restructuring process of the ICA and its effects for the IHCO. IHCO President Dr. Guisado informed on the work that has been conducted by the Sectoral Organisation’s Work Group, and was pleased to inform that in the present form, the new ICA structure will include two representatives from the sectoral organisations to the ICA Board. Together with board member Dr. Palacino, who is also an ICA vice president, they confirmed that the matter would be postponed for an extra General Assembly, probably to be held in Europe in June, 2008.
The IHCO also had the pleasure to greet the Asian sectoral organisation APHCO welcome as full-grade members to IHCO, thereby adding 14 new member organisations to the IHCO ranks. At the General Assembly, IHCO was also visited by observers from health actors in Vietnam and Nigeria.
Dr. Guisado and Dr. Almir Gentil from Unimed in Brazil informed that the two organisations had started a process to form a fund-raising organisation, aiming at raising funds to develop health co-op and social projects, and invited all members to join this new venture.
On the matter of the international health co-operative survey, it was decided that the future work – apart from the compiling of data from the Americas – was to be administered by the IHCO itself. It was decided that Dr. Guisado, Mr. Jean-Pierre Girard, and other members included in this work should hold an on-line meeting as soon as possible after the return from the General Assembly.
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