The right to health in Paraguay

Access to facilities, services and opportunities designed to meet the needs of health is a fundamental human right and is the key for people to enjoy other human rights. However, in Paraguay, this right is still far from becoming reality. The status of the country is the most disadvantaged when compared to the average condition of the Mercosur (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela). Health, as a human right, expands as a social, economic, and political matter. Inequality, poverty, exploitation, violence and injustice are at the root of its poor quality and the consequent shortcomings that emerge from it. Access to health in Paraguay must be further developed using a human rights framework linking it with improving quality of life for all citizens. Such an approach means that potentially powerful barriers and interests must be questioned and contested wherever appropriate and that political and economic priorities must change drastically.