Also available in: Español

Source: https://saludporderecho.org/que-estamos-aprendiendo-de-la-crisis-del-coronavirus/

As you already know, from Salud por Derecho (Right to Health Foundation), we have been carrying out advocacy actions for years so that everybody has access to health, and we are on the road towards universal health coverage, the eradication of pandemics such as HIV and the access to affordable and quality medicines.

In light of the impact of the coronavirus, and following recommendations from health institutions, we have been working from home for a week now, overwhelmed by the progress of the virus, but convinced that together we will defeat this disease. And during these days, which are also days of reflection, something has become clear to us: if this pandemic is teaching us anything, it is the importance of continuing to defend the principles on which we base our work.

Today, aware of the situation in public hospitals, we can do nothing but thank all health professionals for their titanic and heroic effort. We thank you wholeheartedly. This crisis has revealed the importance of preserving and maintaining a strong, universal and efficient public health system. Once this pandemic has been overcome, we hope reflection by institutions and society leads us to strengthen–and to never again undermine–our wonderful public health system. And when we say this, we are thinking about the most vulnerable people of our society and migrants who, even today, still do not have access to health services due to their administrative situation. Now more than ever it is important not to leave anyone behind.

Meanwhile, we are aware of the efforts against the clock which public and private institutions are making to be able to develop a vaccine or a treatment to stop the spread of this virus. And we hope that, once this work produces positive results, the public effort being done is valued and that prices of those products are fair to ensure access to all people needing them.

We know these are very complicated days, and from the Right to Health Foundation, we want to provide encouragement and strength to everybody, specially to those families more directly affected by the disease. This coronavirus crisis will be over, and we will overcome it as a more cohesive and more aware society. There is an opportunity before us that we have to take so that access to health becomes a basic right and stops being a privilege.

Photo:@enfermereando