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PAHO Commission outlines ten

recommendations on how to achieve health

for all in the Region of the Americas

9 HORA PASA , 10 DI APRIL 2019 13:04
SECCION: SALUD

In a new report, experts emphasize the need to guarantee the right to health and recommend
transforming health systems based on primary care and ensuring effective funding.

Mexico City, 9 April 2019 (PAHO) – A report outlining ten recommendations on how countries
can ensure that all people have access to health in the Region of the Americas was launched
today in Mexico by the country’s highest authorities, the Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO), the United Nations, and members of the High-level Commission “Universal Health in
the XXI Century: 40 years of Alma-Ata”.

In recent years, the region has made progress and implemented health reforms. However, it is
estimated that 30% of the population lacks access to the care they need. To help countries

move towards universal health in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in
February 2018 the Director of PAHO, Carissa F. Etienne, established the Commission that
today released its recommendations.

The Commission’s report reveals that health for all can only be achieved if the effective
enjoyment of the human right to health is guaranteed. It also highlights the need to transform
health systems and create models of care based on primary health care (PHC), which respond
to the needs of the population and have the necessary human and financial resources.

The launch event for the report was led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador; the
Director of PAHO; the Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States
(OAS) and President of the Commission, Néstor Méndez; and the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights and former President of the Commission, Michelle Bachelet.

“The report reaffirms that health is a fundamental human right. It is not a privilege, nor a
commodity,” highlighted Etienne, stressing that the report also identifies primary health care as

the sustainable strategy for making health for all a reality. The Director of PAHO also warned
that “without the necessary resources, the firm commitment of the State, and political will,
universal health will not be a possibility.”