Economic Crisis Erodes
Latin American Health
The world economic crisis has deteriorated
Latin American health systems due to cuts in
social spending and a 1.9 percent drop of
the Gross Domestic Product.
That premise opened the debate on the
crisis' social dimension at the 12th
International Meeting on Globalization and
Development Problems taking place in the
capital.
Experts from several regional countries
agreed that the situation will prolong, even
with greater consequences, as Latin America
reported another 14 million poor people in
the last two years.
Taking into consideration that the crisis is
not over yet, and recovery will be long and
weak, it can be inferred the number of
people without access to healthcare will
increase, said Claudia Scialubba, from the
Argentine Health Ministry. When referring to
a study conducted by her country, she
affirmed that between 2003 and 2008, there
were shortages in the Latin American health
system, though economic behaviors were more
favorable than current ones.
The expert warned of a backward step in
public health structures, accompanied by
high rates of unemployment and poverty, a
drop in tax revenue, and less budgets.
The debate reminded of the deterioration
caused by neoliberal policies imposed in the
region since the 1990s, with privatization
of healthcare. |
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