Vatican calls for solidarity to guarantee access to health care

(May 19, 2011) Global solidarity is needed so that every country can guarantee all its citizens have access to health care, a Vatican official told the annual assembly of the World Health Organization, WHO in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday. Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry told the week-long assembly which began on Monday that there are nations where the rich people have higher levels of coverage, while most of the poor people miss out, and even those who do have access often incur high, sometimes catastrophic costs in paying for services and medicine." The prelate told the assembly that under Blessed Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, the Catholic Church has called for universal access to medical care; and despite the progress made in some countries, on the whole, we are still a long way from universal coverage. Reviewing the World Health Organization's annual report and proposed strategies for the future, Archbishop Zimowski praised WHO’s efforts for stepping up efforts to prevent transmission of the HIV/AIDS virus to children and by expanding programs that treat children. He also said the Vatican supports WHO’s efforts to prevent non-communicable diseases and to promote healthier lifestyles through proposed programs to reduce smoking, obesity and alcoholism. Finally, the archbishop said the Vatican shares the assembly's concern over the number of children who are killed or injured in accidents each year.
Archbishop Zimowski called on the international community to increase funding to the world's poorest countries, so they could step up prevention and treatment programs, particularly in areas where long civil wars drastically increase the incidences of child injuries and severely limit resources to care for them.