Vatican calls attention to the world's sickly poor
Jun 07, 2005
The president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, in a speech to the World Health Organization last week, denounced the lack of attention given to the poorest patients in the world and highlighted the Church's activity in providing health care around the globe.
Vatican City, May. 26 (CWNews.com) - The Mexican cardinal's remarks to the 58th World Health Assembly were released by the Vatican press office on Thursday. Cardinal Lozano Barragan also highlighted the role of the Catholic Church in the fight against the AIDS.
Speaking in Spanish on May 18, the cardinal said it was regrettable that infectious diseases are "more virulent in the poorest countries which, precisely because of their poverty, do not have the resources to obtain the necessary medicines." Thus, each year, these diseases are responsible for the deaths of 17 million people, 90 percent of whom live in developing countries.
Cardinal Lozano Barragan also deplored the fact that 95 percent of AIDS patients do not have the money to pay for antiretroviral drugs used to fight certain viruses, including AIDS. He said, "Currently, one does not even find on the market in some of these countries the drugs to treat what are called 'the diseases of poverty,' such as tuberculosis, malaria, smallpox, hemorrhagic fever, leishmaniasis, certain forms of meningitis, sleeping sickness, etc."
The cardinal added that "1,223 new drugs were introduced to the market between 1975 and 1997, and during these 22 years only 13 were devoted to the treatment of tropical infectious diseases." Added to that, out of a total annual budget estimated between 50 and 60 billion US dollars for the purchase of medicine, only 0.2 percent are devoted to respiratory diseases, tuberculosis, and diarrheal diseases. Yet, it is estimated that these diseases are responsible for 18 percent of the deaths in the world.
Cardinal Lozano Barragan noted that "26.7 percent of the patient care centers for treatment of AIDS in the world are run by the Catholic Church." He then pointed out the creation by Pope John Paul II (bio - news) this past year of the Good Samaritan Foundation, with an initial gift of 100,000 euros. The organization is intended particularly to support AIDS patients and those whose work consists in "buying medicine for the neediest" in 11 African countries, one Asian, and another in Latin America. He then affirmed that Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) "approved this foundation with pleasure."
Then the cardinal addressed the question of abortion. "It is terrible to note that, of 211 million new human beings who are conceived each year, 46 million are aborted, 32 million either die prematurely or during birth, and only 133 million manage to be born and to live," the prelate said. The figures were drawn from the 2005 Report on World Health published by the WHO itself.
Lastly, Cardinal Lozano Barragan affirmed that Benedict XVI "is very concerned by the problems of health in the world," in particular with regard to the "most threatened" people. And he also assured the WHO of the continued collaboration of the Holy See in their work.
The 58th World Health Assembly, which was held in Geneva May 16-25, is the chief coordinating body of the WHO and meets once per year. It is made up of deputies representing the 192 Member States of the WHO. This year, the parliament was particularly focused on the revision of international sanitary regulations and on a worldwide vaccination strategy. The Holy See, which is an observer at the organization, took part there with a delegation of seven people led by Cardinal Lozano Barragan.
Vatican calls attention to the world's sickly poor