2002/10/21

The right to health in Argentina

Third World Institute (ITeM)

The evident and systematic violation of the right to health by the Argentinian Government, which is clearly shown in the collapse of the health system, was reported by several health institutions before the OAS Inter-American Commission of Human Rights.

The organizations requested the ICHR to send a fact-finding mission to Argentina to verify the critical situation of violation of human rights in the country and to formulate observations to the Argentinian Government, as was the case in the 1979 mission.

The report denounces the collapse of the health system, within the framework of the severe social crisis that has driven 53% of the population (approximately 18.5 million) below the poverty line and 24.8% (8.7 million) below the extreme poverty line. Seventy per cent of children under 14 years of age are poor, and half of them are extremely poor. Some of the serious problems reported to the ICHR are children mortality and malnutrition and maternal mortality, which affect the right to health and to life.

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