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Geographical Locations - Argentina
Categories
Country Information
- (Statistical) Number of Inhabitants per Doctor: 340
- CIA - World Factbook : Argentina
Organisations and Networks
UN and Multinational
Government
Non-Government
- Sociedad Argentina de Pediatría
- Green Cross : Argentina
- Instituto Social y Politico de la Mujer (ISPM) - "una ONG multidisciplinaria y pluralista. Comenzó a funcionar como grupo de trabajo en 1986 integrado por mujeres provenientes de todos los ámbitos - militancia social, académica, feministas y técnica - aunque se constituyó juridicamente en 1993. Sensibilizadas por la situación y la problemática de las mujeres argentinas han decidido unir sus esfuerzos en pos de contribuir a hacer más efectivas las acciones que posibiliten cambios en la condición de la mujer y modificar así los comportamientos de la población en su conjunto con el fin último de concientizar sobre los derechos humanos"
Academic Institutions
National Policy and Related Documents
Reports, Guidelines, and Projects
- Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, and dengue in Argentina: current knowledge and future directions
Since the reinfestation of South American countries by Ae. aegypti, dengue fever (DF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) have become a major public health concern. The aim of this paper was to review the information related with Aedes vectors and dengue in Argentina since the reintroduction of Ae. aegypti in 1986. The geographic distribution of Ae. albopictus is restricted to the Northeast, and that of Ae. aegypti has expanded towards the South and the West in comparison with the records during the eradication campaign in the 1960s. Since 1998, 4,718 DF cases have been reported concentrated in the provinces of Salta, Formosa, Misiones, Jujuy and Corrientes. Despite the circulation of three dengue virus serotypes (DENV-1, -2 and -3) in the North of the country, DHF has not occurred until the present. The information published over the last two decades regarding mosquito abundance, temporal variations, habitat characteristics, competition, and chemical and biological control, was reviewed. Considering the available information, issues pending in Argentina are discussed. The presence of three DENV, the potential spread of Ae. albopictus, and the predicted climate change suggest that dengue situation will get worse in the region. Research efforts should be increased in the Northern provinces, where DHF is currently an actual risk. [Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Vol. 103(1), February 2008, pp.66-74]
- Argentina: Assessing Changes in Targeting Health and Nutrition Policies
This study assesses the level of targeting achieved in health and nutrition policies directed to pregnant women and children under 5 years of age in Argentina. It is based on information from two large household data sets collected through Living Standards Measurement Surveys undertaken in 1997 and 2001. The results suggest that although health and nutrition public programs are pro-poor, they became less so between 1997 and 2001 for two reasons: a substantial reduction in the fertility rate of poor couples, and an increase in the use of public facilities by wealthier households, likely triggered by the economic crisis that Argentina has suffered since 1998. [publication abstract] [World Bank, HNP Discussion Paper: Reaching The Poor Program Paper No. 1, October 2004 (Paper prepared for the Program on Reaching the Poor with Effective Health, Nutrition, and Population Services, organized by the World Bank in cooperation with the William and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Governments of the Netherlands and Sweden)]
- Argentina: Provincial Maternal and Child Health Insurance – A Results-Based Financing Project at Work
"During the early 2000s, Argentina’s total expenditures on health, as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), placed it among the top-20 countries in the world in per capita health spending. For example, Argentina spent 8.9 percent of GDP in 2000 and 10.1 percent in 2006. The per-capita government expenditures on health (at average exchange rate estimated by WHO) was US$382 in 2000 and US$251 in 2006. Yet, despite sweeping healthcare reforms, relatively high public health expenditures compared to other countries in the region, and a restructuring of the country’s insurance policy, quality and access to service remained a problem throughout the decade. Almost one third of the population lacked access to basic healthcare. Although the reforms improved access to healthcare for those employed in the formal sectors, they were not enough to provide access for the poor—and they lacked the necessary incentives to improve the quality of service provision. Moreover, the poor continued to be excluded from the health insurance system and had worse than average health indicators." [En Breve [World Bank], December 2009, Number 150]
- Arsenic in Water Resources of the Southern Pampa Plains, Argentina
Confronted with the need for accessible sources of good quality water and in view of the fact that the threat to public health posed by arsenic occurs mainly through the ingestion of contaminated drinking water, the presence and distribution of arsenic was evaluated in the southern Pampa Plains of Bahía Blanca district in Argentina. The findings show variable concentrations of arsenic in a complex distribution pattern. Complementary information is provided on the behavior of the groundwater resource and its salinity in terms of dissolved ions. Groundwater is the most severely affected, 97% of the samples exceeding the guideline value for arsenic in drinking water as recommended by the WHO (Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality, 2004). and showing maximum concentrations of up to 0.30mg/L. Informing those responsible for preventive medicine and alerting the community at large will facilitate measures to mitigate exposure and ensure the safety of drinking water. [author abstract] [Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2009, Article ID 216470]
- Asbestos Banned in Argentina
In 1997, Argentina gave priority to asbestos in its National Plan for the Sound Management of Chemicals, and it was the subject of a Technical Task Force on Occupational Cancer. After five years of public hearings in which government, workers, industry advocates, environmentalists, clinicians, scientists, and consumers participated, it was agreed that asbestos exposure is a risk factor for both workers and the general population, and that Argentina should provide to its people the same protections adopted by many developed countries. Pressure from asbestos industry groups initially delayed the inclusion of chrysotile asbestos in the proposed ban, but on January 1, 2003, the mining and import of all forms of asbestos were banned in Argentina. [author abstract] [Int J Occup Environ Health 2004; 10: 202–208]
- Assessment of leishmaniasis notification system in Santiago del Estero, Argentina, 1990–1993
Using a capture-recapture method, this study evaluates the completeness of the cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) surveillance system in four districts of Santiago del Estero province, Argentina, for the period 1990–1993. Four reporting sources were evaluated: medical records kept by health facilities, interviews conducted during a case-control study, and the national and provincial levels of the leishmaniasis surveillance system (LSS). Using the capture-recapture method it was estimated that 210 cases (95% confidence interval [CI]: 202–218) of CL occurred in the four districts during the study period. Completeness of reporting to the leishmaniasis surveillance system at the national level was estimated to be 44.8% (95% CI: 43.2–46.4). The study results indicate that there is substantial underreporting within the LSS, although it did show the appropriate secular trends. The reasons for under-reporting and methods for addressing this problem are discussed. [author abstract] [Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 65(1), 2001, pp. 27–30]
- Congenital Transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi Infection in Argentina
Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, infects 10–18 million people and may be transmitted to the newborn. Using various data sources, we estimated that nearly 850 congenital cases occurred in Argentina in 1993, or 6.3 expected cases per each reported case in 1994 and in 1994–2001. The congenital transmission of T. cruzi constitutes a sizeable public health problem in the region. [author abstract] [Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol. 9, No. 1, January 2003, pp.29-32]
- Costs of publicly provided maternity services in Rosario, Argentina
Objective: This study estimates the costs of maternal health services in Rosario, Argentina. Material and Methods: The provider costs (US$ 1999) of antenatal care, a normal vaginal delivery and a caesarean section, were evaluated retrospectively in two municipal hospitals. The cost of an antenatal visit was evaluated in two health centres and the patient costs associated with the visit were evaluated in a hospital and a health centre. Results: The average cost per hospital day is $114.62. The average cost of a caesarean section ($525.57) is five times greater than that of a normal vaginal delivery ($105.61). A normal delivery costs less at the general hospital and a c-section less at the maternity hospital. The average cost of an antenatal visit is $31.10. The provider cost is lower at the health centre than at the hospital. Personnel accounted for 72-94% of the total cost and drugs and medical supplies between 4-26%. On average, an antenatal visit costs women $4.70. Direct costs are minimal compared to indirect costs of travel and waiting time. Conclusions: These results suggest the potential for increasing the efficiency of resource use by promoting antenatal care visits at the primary level. Women could also benefit from reduced travel and waiting time. Similar benefits could accrue to the provider by encouraging normal delivery at general hospitals, and complicated deliveries at specialised maternity hospitals. [author abstract] [Salud Pública de México, vol.45, no.1, enero-febrero de 2003 (Jan-Feb), pp.27-34]
- Health Financing in Argentina: An Empirical Study of Health Care Expenditure and Utilization
"In some respects, Argentina has a fairly well developed health system considering standards in developing countries. However, a number of Argentina’s health status indicators are worse than those of middle income countries in the region with lower health expenditure and per capita income, such as Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay. In 1997, all those countries had higher life expectancy and significantly lower infant mortality rates even though their per capita health expenditure – US$ 250, US$ 160 and US$ 124 respectively – was lower than Argentina’s US$ 500." [WHO Working Paper Series: Innovations in Health Financing 8, 2006]
- Health in the Americas 2007: Argentina
As a health agency, the Pan American Health Organization’s core discipline is epidemiology, which enables the measurement, definition, and comparison of health problems and conditions and their distribution from the perspectives of population, geography, and time. This publication on Argentina addresses the issue of health as a human right, taking into account both the individual and community contexts, and examines various critical determinants of health, including those of a biological, social, cultural, economic, and political nature. That examination reveals the existence of gaps, disparities, and inequities that persist in Argentina, especially those related to access to basic services, health, nutrition, housing, and adequate living conditions as well as to the lack of opportunities for human development—all of which contribute to the greater vulnerability to diseases and health risks of some population groups. [Adapted from the preface of Health in the Americas 2007]
- Informe Nacional sobre los progresos realizados en la aplicación del UNGASS: Argentina – Enero de 2006-Diciembre de 2007
"La epidemia de VIH/sida en Argentina ha evolucionado en forma disímil desde que se registró el primer caso en el año 1982, alcanzándose al 31 de octubre de 2007 un total de 64.000 diagnósticos de VIH. Un total de 34.500 personas han desarrollado sida, sin embargo al calcular el retraso en el envío de las notificaciones, se estima que el total de personas con Sida diagnosticadas es de 35.570."
- Obstacles to the Development of Prevention and Public Health Policies in Argentina
Article by Graciela Touzé of Intercambios Civil Association, Buenos Aires, Argentina in the journal 'Clinical Infectious Diseases': "The spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic and its impact in the injection drug user population occurred while the social assistance of the State diminished and poverty increased within the Argentinian population. Five main obstacles have been identified for the development of HIV infection/AIDS prevention policies for injection drug users: the scarce development of research and its poor impact in the definition of governmental policies, the characteristics of the legal framework regarding illegal drug use, the orientation of the health and social care services directed to drug users, deficiencies in the training of technicians and professionals related to these issues, and problems in assigning existing resources. International agencies play a very important role in this context. The project 'Prevention of HIV Infection in Injection Drug Users in the Southern Cone,' financially supported by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, is presented as an example."
- Profile of the Health Services System – Argentina
"The health system reflects the special characteristics of a country with a federalist government, where the provincial jurisdictions have not vested matters pertaining to health care in the national government. The system consists of three large sectors: public, private, and social security (the last two strongly interconnected through the indirect system of services contracting). In 1998, the various medical schools produced 108,000 physicians, representing an increase of 22.5% over a more than a five-year period. Between 1995 and 1999, Argentina’s health expenditure showed a cumulative net increase of 7.5% (an annual average for that period of 2.15%). Since 1995, the expenditure’s share in the gross national product has fallen year after year; in the last 5-year period, the decline was 7.5%. Health expenditure as a percentage of GDP shows a similar trend, falling from 9.13% in 1995 to 8.45% in 1999. Argentina's deep recession, which began in 1998, has had a significant impact on health financing. Health expenditure estimates for 2001 show a strong retraction, and the most probable scenario is for the expenditure to continue to decline during 2002. This is likely to be compounded by the impact of the devaluation of the peso following the repeal of the Convertibility Law in January 2002. The result of the two phenomena is that Argentina has lost its status as the country with the highest per capita expenditure in the Region." [Program on Organization and Management of Health Systems and Services, Division of Health Systems and Services Development. Pan American Health Organization (2nd ed. 25 February 2002)]
- Quality Control of Povidone Iodine Solutions Used in Public Health Services in Tucumán, Argentina
Povidone iodine solution 10% is widely used as an antiseptic in operating theatres of Public Health Services of the province of Tucumán, Argentina. The United States Pharmacopeia establishes values for iodine content in povidone iodine solutions. It is extremly [sic] important to verify whether the concentration of such solutions fits the values established by USP. The aim of the present work is to determine the value of samples of povidone iodine 10% which were obtained from several institutions and prepared by the pharmaceutical industry and the Official Pharmacy of the province of Tucumán. Iodine content present in all the solutions was determined by means of redox titrimetric method using a standarized [sic] solution of sodium thiosulphate. The results obtained show that only 50% of the samples evaluated are within the iodine concentration range required. This research intends to carry out the quality control of the solutions mentioned above and to implements the means for their conservation in proper conditions to guarantee their desinfecting [sic] power. [author abstract] [Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences 4 (l): 82-84, 2007]
- The Anxieties of Globalization: Antidepressant Sales and Economic Crisis in Argentina
This paper describes the role of market research firms in shaping the actions of key players in the pharmaceutical arena. It focuses on strategies for marketing novel antidepressants (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, SSRIs) to doctors in Buenos Aires during the Argentine financial crisis of 2001, posing the question of whether increased antidepressant sales were due to the social situation or to promotional practices. This case demonstrates how ‘pharmaceutical relations’ – interactions between doctors and pharmaceutical companies – are structured by a gift economy whose effects are monitored through the sales numbers produced by database firms. It suggests that the use of these numbers takes on special importance given the distinctiveness of both the Argentine context and the antidepressant market. More generally, the case points to the interpretive flexibility of psychotropic medication. In the Argentine setting, doctors’ prescription of SSRIs was dependent neither on a diagnosis of depression nor on a biological understanding of mental disorder. These drugs found a different means of entering the professionally mediated marketplace: doctors understood and used SSRIs as a treatment not for a lack of serotonin in the brain, but for the suffering caused by the social situation – the sense of insecurity and vulnerability that the economic and political crisis had wrought. [author abstract] [Social Studies of Science, 34/2 (April 2004), pp.247–269]
- The health crisis in Argentina
The health crisis in Argentina is part of the larger crisis that has resulted from a collapse in the country's economic and political systems. After a brief review of the country's history over the last century, from international success story to economic failure, the author explains the health crisis in particular and the social crisis in general in terms of failed neoliberal policies imposed on Argentina by the United States and International Monetary Fund through the mediation of the country's political class. [author abstract] [International Journal of Health Services, Vol. 33, No. 1 pp.129-136 / 2003]
- Tobacco Use Among High School Students in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Objectives: This study assessed the prevalence and correlates of tobacco use among high school students in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Methods: Anonymous, self-administered questionnaires were given to 3909 8th and 11th graders in a stratified random sample of 49 public and private schools. The instrument included items from American surveys, translated and validated among Argentinean teens. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to estimate possible effects on smoking behavior of environment, students’ personal characteristics, and their knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes regarding smoking. Results: Of 8th and 11th graders, 20% and 43%, respectively, were classified as current smokers. Overall, 29% of males and 32% of females were current smokers. Students attending public schools were more likely to smoke than those in private schools (P<.05). Current smoking was associated with having a best friend who smokes, reporting that more than 50% of friends of the same sex smoke, having positive attitudes and beliefs toward smoking, and having a positive intention to smoke within the next year (all P<.001). Conclusions: Over 20% of the 8th graders in our sample were current smokers; prevention efforts must therefore start early. [author abstract] [Am J Public Health. 2001; 91: 219–224]
- Weight status and hypertension among adolescent girls in Argentina and Norway: Data from the ENNyS and HUNT studies
Background: To provide data on overweight, obesity and hypertension among adolescent girls in Norway and Argentina. Methods: Data was obtained from two population-based, cross-sectional and descriptive studies containing anthropometric and blood pressure measurements of 15 to 18 year old girls. The study included 2,156 adolescent girls from Norway evaluated between 1995 and 1997, and 669 from Argentina evaluated between 2004 and 2005. Results: Around 15% of adolescent girls in Norway and 19% in Argentina are overweight or obese. Body mass index (BMI) distribution in these two countries is similar, with a low percentage (< 1%) of girls classified as thin. Norwegian adolescents show a height mean value 8 cm taller than the Argentinean. Obesity is strongly associated with systolic hypertension in both populations, with odds ratios of 11.4 [1.6; 82.0] and 28.3 [11.8; 67.7] in Argentina and Norway, respectively. No direct association between BMI and systolic hypertension was found, and only extreme BMI values (above 80th - 90th percentile) were associated with hypertension. Conclusion: This study confirms a current world health problem by showing the high prevalence of obesity in adolescents and its association with hypertension in two different countries (one developed and one in transition). [author abstract] [BMC Public Health 2009, 9:398]
- Womens' [sic] opinions on antenatal care in developing countries: results of a study in Cuba, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Argentina
Background: The results of a qualitative study carried out in four developing countries (Cuba, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Argentina) are presented. The study was conducted in the context of a randomised controlled trial to test the benefits of a new antenatal care protocol that reduced the number of visits to the doctor, rationalised the application of technology, and improved the provision of information to women in relation to the traditional protocol applied in each country. Methods: Through focus groups discussions we were able to assess the concepts and expectations underlying women's evaluation of concepts and experiences of the care received in antenatal care clinics. 164 women participated in 24 focus groups discussion in all countries. Results: Three areas are particularly addressed in this paper: a) concepts about pregnancy and health care, b) experience with health services and health providers, and c) opinions about the modified Antenatal Care (ANC) programme. In all three topics similarities were identified as well as particular opinions related to country specific social and cultural values. In general women have a positive view of the new ANC protocol, particularly regarding the information they receive. However, controversial issues emerged such as the reduction in the number of visits, particularly in Cuba where women are used to have 18 ANC visits in one pregnancy period. Conclusion: Recommendations to improve ANC services performance are being proposed. Any country interested in the application of a new ANC protocol should regard the opinion and acceptability of women towards changes. [author abstract] [BMC Public Health 2003, 3: 17]
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