Publications

Explore our latest reports

These resources provide evidence-based perspectives on some of the most pressing global issues.

Reforming Global Drug Policy:

NEW: The Legal Regulation of Drugs: The Potential to Deliver Global Justice (2025)

The end of prohibition is a once in a lifetime opportunity to deliver global justice. These nine papers explore the emergent opportunities for global justice across nine key sectors: trade, tax, global health, Indigenous rights, good governance, climate justice, land rights, labour rights and racial justice. By learning from past mistakes and collaborating across sectors we can seize this opportunity to create drug policies that benefit people, protect the environment, and strengthen societies.

Revealing the Missing Link to Climate Justice: Drug Policy (2023)

A ground-breaking report from the International Coalition on Drug Policy Reform and Environmental Justice brings together evidence that reveals how the system of drug prohibition – the so-called war on drugs – is undermining climate action.

VIDEO: Global drug policy is a barrier to climate justice (2022)

For countries to prepare for the climate emergency we need strong accountable governance and functioning public services. Global drug policy (prohibition) makes this impossible.

Legal Regulation through a Social Justice Lens (2021)

15 key priorities to develop a framework for legal regulation of the drug trade that will strengthen global equity.

Cannabis regulation: Lessons from the illicit tobacco trade (2021)

As the legal cannabis industry continues to expand, and new jurisdictions review regulatory frameworks for cannabis supply chains, this briefing paper offers an overview of tobacco industry strategies and practices to watch out for on illicit trade issues.

WEBINAR: Drug policy through a social development lens (2020)

An eight part webinar series featuring speakers from impacted communities, crop producers, environmental activists, and experts in the fields of tax, trade and corporate regulation, we explore how drug policies intersect with some of the most pressing issues facing the Majority world today.

VIDEO: Why I want to legally regulate drugs (2019)

A short film to raise awareness about the harms of global drug policy and call for legal regulation of drugs created by Health Poverty Action.

Punishing poverty – how the failed ‘war on drugs’ harms vulnerable communities (2019)

Report on Brazil and India exploring how the ‘war on drugs’ perpetuate a vicious cycle of poverty.

The hidden opioid crisis – how the so-called ‘war on drugs’ leaves patients to die in pain (2019)

Explores the impact of drug prohibition on access to essential opioid pain relief, such as morphine, in three Indian states.

Cannabis: Regulate it. Tax it. Support the NHS. Promote public health (2018)

Examining the potential health benefits of regulating cannabis for the UK.

Building a 21st Century Approach to Drugs (2018)

Key principles for building a new evidence-based approach to drugs both in the UK and globally that puts people’s health and wellbeing first.

VIDEO: Rethink Drug Policy (2016)

Health Poverty Action is calling for a new approach to drug policy, which puts people’s health and rights first.

Drug policy and the sustainable development goals (2015)

How the so-called ‘war on drugs’ undermines the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Casualties of war: how the war on drugs is harming the world’s poorest (2015)

A comprehensive look at how the war on drugs harms the world’s poorest.

Linking Health and Global Justice:

A series of resources looking at underlying causes of global poverty and ill-health.

Trading up for Health: How to prevent trade deals from undermining health (2019)

Read our report about the risks post-Brexit trade deals could have on our health and the alternatives that could help avoid them.

Changing track: putting people before corporations (2018)

Governments divert $1 trillion annually from people and public services towards large corporations. Our briefing outlines why governments need to put people before corporations.

The alternatives: approaches towards a life in full (2018)

A report exploring evidence from a range of countries which have – to varying extents – successfully promoted inclusive development or indeed, alternatives to Western ideas of development itself (market fundamentalism).

Reclaiming internationalism (2018)

We need a new vision for development with a focus on ending the root causes of global poverty and inequality. We must ensure that we look beyond Britain’s borders to build a world which works for the many, not the few.

Honest accounts 2: Africa’s billion-dollar losses (2017)

A detailed look at how the rest of the world is extracting wealth from countries. This is an update of our 2014 report.

Health and taxation (2015)

Tax is a fundamental issue for health. The theft of tax revenue denies people their right to health. How can progressive taxation support health systems in the Global South?

Health and Trade (2015)

How global trade system poses a range of direct threats to health.

Honest accounts (2014)

A detailed look at how the rest of the world is extracting wealth from countries in Africa. Honest accounts 2: Africa’s billion-dollar losses (2017) shares updated figures on wealth extraction from countries in Africa.

How to Communicate Global Solidarity: ending the ‘aid’ narrative:

Practical resources to help communications support action for global solidarity.

WEBINAR: Re-imagining Solidarity (2021)

Can we move beyond the “aid” narrative to decolonize global solidarity? This was a webinar series features webinars from Nigeria, Uganda, Benin and globally, and unpacks the role of language in the causes of poverty and social injustice. This series was run on behalf of the Kampala Initiative.

A practical guide for communicating global justice and solidarity

A toolkit which outlines how to address the root causes of poverty and build global solidarity through our communications. Also available in French guide pratique pour communiquer sur la justice globale et la solidarité, and Dutch een praktische gids voor communicatie over mondiale rechtvaardigheid en solidariteit.

Principles for communicating global justice and solidarity

Download and display our poster outlining the key principles to remember when preparing any communications.

A guide to communication pitfalls

Download and display this poster to remind you of the common pitfalls to avoid in your communications.

Making Health Systems Equitable and Inclusive:

Resources exploring the importance of strong health systems.

Indigenous women’s maternal health and maternal mortality (2018)

A fact sheet on indigenous women’s maternal health commissioned by UNFPA and written by Health Poverty Action and Minority Rights Group.

VIDEO: Every country should have an NHS (2016)

Our NHS is amazing. Every country should have an NHS. For that to happen we need justice – not charity.

Healthy revenues: how the extractives industry can support Universal Health Coverage in Sierra Leone (2015)

A report about how greater tax revenue from the extractives industry in Sierra Leone could help to fund healthcare.

Aid in reverse: the UK’s responsibility to address the health workforce crisis (2013)

Examining how the UK benefits from health workers trained in world’s poorest countries.

(Briefing) Aid in reverse: the UK’s responsibility to address the health workforce crisis (2013)

A short briefing based on The Health Worker Crisis report.

Killing us with hunger: Indigenous perspectives on nutrition, food aid and food sovereignty in the central Amazon of Peru (2013)

This report looks at the problems with food aid in Peru, and how to work towards a food sovereignty solution.

Every mother counts: reporting data by ethnicity (2013)

Examining the lack of statistical information around the health outcomes of women from Indigenous and other marginalised ethnic and cultural groups.

Mothers on the Margins (2010)

A report examining the challenges for Indigenous women’s maternal health.

Country Programme Publications:

HIV Integration in Health Care (2023)

Principles of effective HIV programming.

Reaching the minorities in remote areas of Kachin State (2016)

A photo album to bring you closer to the real life of local communities – their culture, infrastructure and health services. This will allow you to hear the voices of and see the issues faced by the community.

Documentation of Sexual and Gender Based Violence of IDPs/Returnees in Maroodi Jeex, Somaliland (2016)

This report documents the intervention successes and challenges our programme in Somaliland, designed to address sexual and gender-based violence among internally displaced persons in Maroodi Jeex, Somaliland.

Participatory Governance (2016)

Sharing best practices for the participation of marginalised groups in health sector governance, this project focused on strengthening Civil Society Organisations’ knowledge of participatory governance and their ability to advocate for more participatory forms of health governance.

Building Bridges (2013)

The impact of AIDS is higher in Pastoralist communities in Ethiopia, making them susceptible to HIV infection. How can we address this?

A Deeper Understanding (2012)

“Improving health is not just a medical challenge; it’s a fundamental issue of justice. Our work is more profound than an act of charity; it’s a recognition of human rights.” Martin Drewry, Director

Trading With Lives (2012)

Health Poverty Action calls for developing countries to have access to affordable medicines. A country’s ability to pay should never be a barrier to its people’s right to health.

Financial Transaction Tax for Global Health (2011)

An FTT could raise significant funds for disease responses and health system strengthening in poorer countries, and could help bridge the resource gap that currently exists to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Raising Revenue: Review of Financial Transaction Taxes Around the World (2010)

Case studies draw out important lessons for how they can successfully implement FTTs as revenue raising tools to fund public spending and safeguard the provision of services such as healthcare.

Abolishing User Fees in Sierra Leone (2010)

Free health services are a crucial way to increase access for the poor and ultimately improve their health. But how can we make this work in Sierra Leone and beyond?

Other Health Justice Issues:

FILM: Girls in the shadow of the pandemic (2023)

Across the world, gender-based violence increased during Covid-19 lockdowns. The disproportionate length of lockdowns, for countries that were prevented from accessing the vaccine, had an immeasurable impact on people’s lives.

FILM: Vaccine justice: voices from the favelas (2022)

Despite favelas in Rio de Janeiro only representing 20% of the population, the deaths of their residents made up a third of all the city’s deaths. Social distancing was impossible, and sanitation was often inaccessible with erratic water supply.

The People’s Health Movement:

We are part of the People’s Health Movement, this is a global network bringing together grassroots health activists, civil society organisations and academic institutions from around the world, particularly from low and middle income countries.

The People’s Charter for Health

The framework within which the People’s Health Movement acts and offers strategic guidance to the movement, and the founding document for the People’s Health Movement. It is both a tool for advocacy and a framework for action. This charter is endorsed by all its members, including us. The People’s Charter for Health endorses the Alma Ata declaration, and affirms health as a social, economic and political issue but above all, a fundamental human right.

Global Health Watch

This is a collaborative effort by health activists, civil society organisations and academic institutions from across the world and is designed to question present policies on health and to propose alternatives. It provides policy analysis, debates technical issues, and provides perspectives on current global processes. Its work is not limited to the ‘health sector’ but extends its scrutiny to all those areas that determine whether people are able to live healthy and fulfilling lives.

Resources for Teachers and Schools: “Global Poverty and its Colonial Roots”:

Practical resources for sixth from teachers exploring the colonial roots of global poverty.