Poverty and Health in Argentina

Authors

  • Maria Alejandra Silva

Keywords:

Argentina, rural health

Abstract

This article examines health conditions in the rural areas of Central Argentina, the country’s main region for soy-bean production and export. Health conditions are analyzed through the concepts of emerging and re-emerging diseases in a context of increasing poverty. Data on poverty and health was obtained from both primary sources (trade union, government officials, rural doctors and the South Watch/FA/FODEPAL/UNR working group) and secondary sources (IPEC/INDEC, IDESA, Consultora Equis, the Argentine Ministry of Employment, ILO, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of the Environment, toxicology centers and rural doctors). Analysis of rural health conditions gives cause for concern. There is evidence of deterioration in the social determinants of health such as an increase in rural and urban poverty associated with informal employment and child labor. At the same time lack of government epidemiological and toxicological data appears to hide or distort the reality of health conditions.

Author Biography

Maria Alejandra Silva

Licenciada en Ciencia Política/U.N.R., Magister en Ciencia Política y Sociología/FLACSO (Argentina, 2002). Especialista en Seguridad Integral en la Empresa/ Fundación Mapfre (España, 1996). Es intengrante del plantel docente de la Facultad de Ciencias Medicas/UNR desde 1986 y continua. Se desempeña en la Cátedra Medicina y Sociedad, siendo experta del área “Trabajo y Tiempo libre” y responsable de las materias: “Area instrumental de metodología de la investigación”, “Historia social de la medicina” y “Enfermedades emergentes y reemergentes”. Tiene numerosos antecedentes en investigación científica en el Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET) desde 1997.

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Published

2009-06-26

Issue

Section

Original Research