|
|
|
 Health & Beauty | May 2008 
Mexico Ex-Official: Health Care Should Have No Boundaries
 Sheryl Kornman - Tucson Citizen
go to original
Health care is a human right, not a "commodity or a privilege," Dr. Julio Frenk, a former health secretary of Mexico, said Wednesday at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.
"It is unethical to limit health care on the basis of migratory activity," he said.
People without health insurance - among them Mexican immigrants in Arizona - should not be denied medical care, he said.
Border regions such as Arizona's with Mexico "are areas of cultural conflict," just as they are along geographic borders everywhere, as globalization pushes people into closer contact.
"The forces of globalization can be turned into a public good," Frenk said.
He also spoke about the spread of communicable disease across borders throughout the centuries and of the value of preventing disease with the access to health care.
"We must balance self-interest with mutual interest, valuing the core elements that make us members of the human race."
"In an era of huge mass migration," Frenk cautioned against xenophobia and urged people to think about the "1.3 billion people in the world who live on less than a dollar a day."
"We must not emphasize our differences," he said. He called for "better health for all the citizens of our common border and of the world."
"Help me contribute to this pursuit in our turbulent world," he said.
Frenk praised the UA College of Medicine's Telemedicine Program as "a worldwide leader" in efforts to "improve access to the underserved so that physical distance may no longer be a barrier to health care."
Frenk's lecture to about 250 people was funded by an endowment of the college.
He lives in Washington and in Mexico City. In Washington, he is a senior fellow of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Global Health Program.
He was secretary of health in Mexico from 2000 to 2006.
Frenk joined the Gates Foundation's Global Health Program last year as a senior fellow and advises the program on initiatives to improve maternal and child health.
He is president of the CARSO Health Institute, which focuses on innovations in health systems in Latin America.
Frenk was the first speaker in a new lecture series: the James E. Dalen Distinguished Visiting Professor in Health Care Policy. Dalen was dean of the UA College of Medicine for 13 year. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us