On May 20, the 72nd World Health Assembly, organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) began in Geneva, Switzerland. The topics on the agenda include the promotion of universal health coverage (UHC) and the strengthening of primary care at global level. In this context, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) requested that governments in the region increase funding for these rights. The goal is that by 2030, 30 percent of health budgets will be dedicated to ensuring primary health care. It should be noted that Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Mexico and Honduras declared their interest in moving forward in this direction, and in some cases have begun to implement national health insurance following these guidelines. The NCD Alliance (noncommunicable diseases) also presented a report containing recommendations for states to take into account when promoting this agenda.

Within the framework of the World Assembly, Carissa Etienne, director of PAHO, called on the countries of the Americas to “boost” UHC, recommended they increase their health budgets to “30 percent” of national totals by 2030, and urged compliance with the guidelines given in the “Universal Health in the 21st Century: 40 Years of Alma-Ata” report presented in Mexico in April. In response, Argentina’s health secretary, Adolfo Rubinstein, referred to the report and said that the issue “is a priority” for his country and that they will seek to promote adherence using a “multidimensional” approach.

At the regional level, Argentina is not the only country interested in advancing this agenda as Brazil, Mexico, Honduras and Bolivia have also made varying degrees of progress in this regard. Bolivia is already in the first stages of implementing its own Universal Health Insurance (SUS for its acronym in Portuguese) to cover treatments against diseases such as cancer for the entire population. Similar initiatives are expected to be developed at regional level.