Health Poverty Action

Who we are

Through country programmes and policy & campaigns initiatives, Health Poverty Action works to strengthen poor and marginalised people in their struggle for health and social justice. 

Our progressive approach combines three factors:

We approach health as an issue of global justice

The greatest causes of poor health worldwide are political, social and economic injustices. This is a global scandal, which causes unnecessary suffering on a massive scale. That is why we tackle the root causes of poor health as well as the symptoms, and why our name is Health Poverty Action.

We prioritise those missed out by others 

Development organisations tend to cluster together, which can leave large populations with almost no support at all. People may be living in hard to reach fragile areas, or marginalised for some other reason. We make these most neglected populations our highest priority.

We tackle the full range of factors denying people their health rights

This includes strengthening physical and mental health services, food & nutrition, water &sanitation, gender justice and eradicating harmful practices (such as FGM), and income generation. Tackling one cause of sickness in isolation can give the appearance of improving health, but often in reality might do little more than change the cause of death. Tackling several factors in integrated ways can save lives and bring lasting change.

To find out more, visit Health Poverty Action's website.