Health is a right denied to many and a challenge for
evangelisation. every mission has its basic health care centre
Vatican City (Fides Service) – The dossier prepared
by Fides wishes to offer readers a picture of the health situation in
mission countries where conditions are difficult or tragic.
It is precisely in mission territories that the Church works often silently
to bring a note of hope to a sea of desperation and suffering. Where
ever there is a Catholic mission there is health care often the only
assistance available for thousands of miles. Countless dispensaries,
medical centres and hospitals have been opened by missionaries and volunteers
animated with a spirit of the Gospel.
Health is one a parameter to gauge the grade of civilisation of a region.
The number of doctors per person, the number of hospitals present on
the territory, impact of infective diseases on the local population…are
parameters used by geographers and economists to judge what a country
is able to offer its citizens in terms of social progress and quality
of life.
We are aware that behind the figures are the lives of many, too many
human beings denied the right to health; a fundamental right recognised
by the constitutions of many countries and by various international
conventions on human rights, but which has yet to be recognised in many
countries. As Pope John Paul II said on 9 November 1990: “New
frontiers opened by progress in science and technology, the so-called
socialisation of medicine, and growing interdependence among peoples
place questions of health-care and health at the centre of commitment
for human rights, and among these, there is no doubt, fundamental rights
regarding respect for life from conception to natural end.”
IN-DEPHT STUDY
