Health at risk: government decisions that affect us

The recent decisions of the national government put the health of the population at risk. Argentina’s possible withdrawal from the WHO weakens its ability to access funding and technical cooperation based on scientific evidence. This announcement is part of a context of cuts, flexibility and deregulation of health policies that benefit large corporations at the expense of public health.

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1 – Argentina is moving away from international health standards

• If Argentina withdraws from the WHO, its access to technical cooperation, financing and evidence-based recommendations on health matters could be weakened.
• The WHO, among other things, is the main body for coordinating and promoting regulations for the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as malnutrition, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, COPD, and certain types of cancer, which are directly associated with the consumption of ultra-processed products and tobacco and nicotine.
• Argentina’s withdrawal from the WHO therefore weakens its access to technical cooperation, financing and evidence-based recommendations on health matters.
• It also affects our country’s ability to be part of global strategies to combat the tobacco epidemic. The WHO is the governing body of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a global public health treaty that promotes comprehensive policies based on the best scientific evidence.

2 – Relaxing front labelling benefits industry, not the population

• The Law on the Promotion of Healthy Eating is a major step forward in protecting the right to information and healthy eating. However, provisions 11362 and 11378 recently passed by ANMAT reduced the standards for applying warning labels on packaging of ultra-processed foods, allowing products with high levels of sugar, sodium and saturated fats to avoid the black labels.
• These changes are not based on scientific evidence, but rather respond to pressure from the food industry, which implies a regression of acquired rights: it generates confusion in the population and affects the ability to make informed decisions about how we want to eat, negatively impacting health.
• As the State reduces its capacity to protect the health of the population, large corporations gain more freedom to sell less healthy products, with fewer controls and without proper information. More freedom for companies, less freedom for citizens.

3 – Less public health

These decisions by the national government deepen the crisis in the health system, which is affected, among other things, by:

• Budget cuts across the public health system affecting hospitals, health programs, and the purchase of medicines and basic supplies for health centers, leading to shortages and reduced services.
• The closure of programs and mass layoffs have left key initiatives for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, mental health, and free distribution of medicines without funding.
• The reduction in health personnel and the weakening of the Ministry of Health have overloaded the system, affecting care and access to treatment, which worsens the health crisis and particularly harms health personnel and those who depend on the public system for medical care.

4 – Who benefits from these measures?

• The relaxation of front-of-package labelling and the withdrawal of the WHO do not respond to a logic of efficiency, but to a deregulation strategy that favours the most powerful economic actors.
• The weakening of public health policies that seek to prevent diseases harms people’s quality of life and overloads the health system.
• While access to health care is being affected by the population, the food and tobacco industries are gaining strength, achieving more lax regulations that allow the marketing of products without clear warnings.
• With these decisions, Argentina not only weakens its internal regulations, but also moves away from the global health goals established in the UN Agenda 2030 regarding the promotion of healthy eating, zero hunger and the fight against the tobacco epidemic.

 

Conclusion: Less State, more privileges for the big monopolies, fewer rights for the population.

The right to health and information are at risk. Argentina’s announced withdrawal from the WHO, the relaxation of front-of-package labelling, and cuts in supplies and health personnel are different aspects of the same strategy to weaken public health policies.

At Fundeps, we urge that these decisions be reversed and regulations be put in place to protect the health of the entire population.