Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Geneva (Agenzia Fides) - “Failure to place the promotion of life at the center of health care decisions results in a society in which an individual’s absolute right to basic health care and life would be limited by the ability to pay, by the perceived quality of life and other subjective decisions which sacrifice life and health in exchange for short-term social, economic and political advantage.” This is what Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, Permanent Observer of the Holy See at the United Nations and Specialized Institutions Offices in Geneva, affirmed in his address given on July 9 to the High-Level Segment of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC).
The Archbishop recalled that “the global economic crisis continues unabated. It is exacerbated by the emergence of a previously unknown influenza virus, A-H1N1 already recognized at pandemic proportion with a future impact that cannot be projected with much certainty, and by the global food security crisis that endangers the lives of millions of people, particularly the world’s poorest, many of whom already suffer from acute and chronic malnutrition.” The consequences of the crisis – poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, and stifled development – affects the most vulnerable groups, while once more it is evident that there is a “link between poverty and health and a disproportionate burden on developing countries and even on the poor in the developed ones.” Highlighting the need for an efficient and immediate response, Archbishop Tomasi affirmed that otherwise, “young people risk to inherit a severely compromised economic system, a society without cohesion, and a planet damaged in its sustainability as a home for the whole human family.”
After citing the World Bank's predictions that during 2009, an additional 53 to 65 million people will be trapped in extreme poverty and that the number of people chronically hungry will exceed one billion, 800 million of whom live in rural areas where public health is weakest and where innovative health care initiatives are urgent, the Holy See Representative said: “We can reasonably conclude that significant numbers of those extremely poor and hungry people will be more at risk of contracting both communicable and chronic, non-communicable diseases. Moreover, if they are faced with cutbacks in international aid or if there is an increased number of people seeking care, the already fragile public health systems in developing countries will not be able to respond adequately to the health needs of their most vulnerable citizens.” He then called for the need to “overcome the temptation to reduce public services for a short-term benefit against the long-term human cost. In the same line, aid for development should be maintained and even increased as a critical factor in renewing the economy and leading us out of the crisis.”
The inequality that exists both between countries and within countries, as well as between ethnic and racial groups, are another obstacle to the realization of the objectives of public health cited by Archbishop Tomasi, who recalled how “women continue in many regions to receive poorer quality health care.” He continued: “The Catholic Church sponsors 5,378 hospitals, 18,088 health clinics, 15,448 homes for the elderly and disabled, and other health care programmes throughout the world, but especially in the most isolated and marginalized areas and among people who rarely enjoy access to health care...In this regard, special attention is given to Africa, where the Catholic Church has pledged to continue to stand alongside the poorest people in this continent in order to uphold the inherent dignity of all persons...Among the civil society organizations assuring health care within various national systems, the programmes sponsored by the Catholic Church and other faith-based organizations stand out as key stakeholders. However, despite their excellent and documented record in the field of HIV service delivery and primary health care, faith-based organizations do not receive an equitable share of the resources designated to support global, national and local health initiatives.”
“Access to primary health care and affordable life-saving drugs is vital to improving global health and fostering a shared globalized response to the basic needs of all,” the Archbishop said, calling for a greater global cooperation that becomes “an ethical imperative of solidarity.” “However, we must be guided by the best healthcare tradition that respects and promotes the right to life from conception until natural death for all regardless of race, disability, nationality, religion, sex and socio-economic status.”
Archbishop Tomasi concluded his address by mentioning “the need for more than financial solutions to the challenges posed by the economic crisis to global efforts aimed at assuring universal access to health care” and by quoting a passage from the encyclical Caritas in veritate, where Pope Benedict XVI affirms: “Economic activity cannot solve all social problems through the simple application of commercial logic. This needs to be directed towards the pursuit of the common good, for which the political community in particular must also take responsibility” (#36). (SL) (Agenzia Fides 15/7/2009)
