By: Staff Writer
September 24, 2021
The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region made up 32 percent of all COVID-19 deaths worldwide, prompting the preeminent United Nations agency in the region to create an action plan for health self-sufficiency.
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in its report, “Plan for self-sufficiency in health matters in Latin America and the Caribbean: lines of action and proposals,” stated: “This region has been one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 crisis. Despite the fact that it is home to just 8.4 percent of the world’s population, it accounted for 20.1 percent of COVID-19 infections and 32 percent of deaths by end-August 2021. This has placed the region in a critical situation, prompting it to re-evaluate strategies and public policies and to shift priorities related to productive, technological and health capacities.”
The region has also been hit with vaccination hesitancy because as of August only 15 percent of the Caribbean has been vaccinated and for the LAC region combined only 25 percent have been vaccinated, presenting a significant challenge for health care systems in the region as hospitals are stretched beyond capacity.
Not only are hospitals overstretched with those suffering from COVID-19, causing people with other illnesses to not be able to be seen at a healthcare facility, causing even more long term problems for people that need medical care for other ailments.
The report also said that along with the real time constraints healthcare systems in the region are plagued with political, economic and industrial bottlenecks that overlap with one another in a network of inefficiencies that conflict with each other.
“The health economic-industrial complex is a distinct institutional, political, economic, industrial and social space in which there are notable complementarities (for example, between productive capacities and research, development and innovation) and contradictions (such as between the social objectives of universality at the lowest possible cost and the business interests of profitability).”
Inside this dense bureaucratic web lays competing interests made worse by the introduction of digital technologies being introduced on top of a dysfunctional base. The report said, “The technological progress associated with the spread of digital technologies and the consequent changes in the modalities of production and consumption of health services and products also lead to the formation of an information and connectivity subsystem that links relations between the industrial sectors and the provision of health services and is characterized by a pronounced asymmetry in terms of access to information. This has resulted in the expansion of digital platforms that open up opportunities for personalized medicine, while at the same time increasing vertical competition with industry sectors for the appropriation of revenues and health budgets.”
Access to vaccines and critical medicines have also been a problem for developing countries worldwide and not just acute to the LAC. The report noted that overcoming these access challenges can be met by linking the various healthcare facilities and authorities for them to sign on to agreements and treaties within the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) multilateral system and regionally as well as bilaterally with one another.
The report also noted that through these regional and bilateral treaties, “new annexes on removing technical barriers to trade in medical devices,” can be achieved.
In addition, the report detailed several initiatives that should be undertaken by national healthcare authorities and governments. For example: “Support the development of comprehensive primary health care to ensure equitable access to services and vaccines by individuals and communities.
• Strengthen mechanisms for participation in pooled procurement at the first level of health care, ensuring adequate distribution and availability of vaccines and essential medicines.
• Improve planning, operation and management processes for the implementation of immunization and associated programmes in primary health care systems.
• Promote mechanisms for the exchange of information on experiences and best practices in the development of primary health care and the rollout of vaccination plans, both nationally and internationally.
• Prioritize funding for primary health care, considering that of the regional target of at least 6% of GDP for public expenditure on health, as agreed by the countries of the region in the framework of PAHO (PAHO, 2014), at least 30%, should be allocated to the first level of care.
• Address the deficit and inefficient distribution of human resources in health, both in terms of hospital specialists and at the first level of care, where their shortage has been a major problem during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Strengthen the technical capacities of the key actors in the first level of care, the primary health care strategy and all levels that participate in their development.