The pandemic is no longer an emergency for most countries.
Our region was the most affected.
With only 8% of the world population, it registered 28.5% of the cases and 42.6% of the deaths
.
We sought to explain this impact through two factors: the great social inequalities and the low financing of the health systems.
The pandemic put health at the top of the agenda and most countries in the region provided emergency funds for health.
The winds of reform began to blow in the region's health systems and in many countries there was talk of improving public-private coordination, revitalizing the primary care strategy, incorporating the community in health promotion strategies, strengthening human talent and the opportunities that telemedicine could generate.
As the first cases of Covid-19 came from Europe and the East, where the pandemic manifested itself earlier, from the outset it was necessary
to look at private hospitals and seek to coordinate them with the health authority
.
So it is that in many countries, where Argentina is located, the appeal to build an "Integrated Health System" reappeared.
Access to the vaccine has generated drops in lethality.
Some countries, such as Argentina, have made progress in the immunization of their populations with significant percentages of vaccination of their populations, while other countries, especially in the Caribbean region, still complete vaccination schemes, have not even reached 50% of their population.
The Pandemic, as a global health problem, affects all countries beyond borders and as the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, repeatedly pointed out: "
No one will be safe unless we all are"
.
However, we seem to have returned to "normal" and the times of emergency seem to have passed.
The amount of space in the media dedicated to the pandemic has diminished and the political priority that health issues had on the political agenda of the State and government has been lost.
In light of this return to "normalcy" we have also lost the opportunity to discuss and reform our systems and the way we produce health.
Having overcome the peaks of the pandemic waves of morbidity and mortality, the health situation in general has worsened, worsening chronic non-communicable diseases, having increased indicators of obesity, alcohol and substance use, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, intrafamily violence, pregnancy adolescent and even increased problems associated with mental health and suicide, among others.
The impact of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine on the region's economy, with a slowdown in growth and inflation, has once again generated the need for fiscal austerity and limited budgets, where
health is no longer a priority and we lost the opportunity to a health reform
.
We did not return to normality, because we lost control of the chronicles for two years, early detection was lost, the cases worsened, many of the responses that had been achieved in terms of prevention were lost and, in that sense, we have regressed.
Sociologist (UBA), Master and Doctor in Public Health (ENSP/FIOCRUZ).
look too
The new global health syndemic
Covid vaccination: the regional ethical dilemma of the third dose