Within the framework of the 80th United Nations General Assembly, the Minister of Health of the Nation, Mario Lugones, participated in the High-Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health.
During his address, he highlighted the course Argentina has taken to build health policies based on prevention, evidence, and clinical freedom and called for an international debate focused on technical solutions rather than political slogans.
Mario Lugones: There is no health without scientific truth
“There is no health without scientific truth, there is no trust without transparency, and there is no legitimate health policy if the patient is not placed at the center,” Lugones stated during his speech, and he pointed out that our country is driving a paradigm shift in health to move away from a system focused on repairing disease and to adopt a preventive model based on clinical trials, open, comparable, and replicable data.
Lugones destacó el rumbo adoptado por Argentina para construir políticas sanitarias basadas en la prevención, la evidencia y la libertad clínica.
"At the UN, we made Argentina's position clear: after decades of policies and budgets without results, we are moving toward a preventive and sustainable system, based on scientific evidence, clinical freedom, and responsible use of resources," the official stated.
"This course requires restoring the standards of medicine with open and verifiable data, and ensuring a legitimate health policy that serves people," he added.
The work of reviewing additives and colorants used in food production
Lugones highlighted the work that Argentina has begun to review the additives and colorants used in food production in order to improve the prevention of food-related diseases.
In his address, the Minister of Health of the Nation also expressed his refusal to support the draft political declaration presented at the UN because he considered that it incorporates “agendas unrelated to the technical purpose of the meeting that divert the health focus,” such as the 2030 Agenda, climate change, or the gender perspective.
Lugones destacó el rumbo adoptado por Argentina para construir políticas sanitarias basadas en la prevención, la evidencia y la libertad clínica.
"We rejected the text of the Declaration they wanted to promote because it introduces ideological slogans unrelated to health. We will only support technical documents that are verifiable and respectful of sovereignty," the minister emphasized, in line with the position of his counterpart from the United States, Robert Kennedy Jr.
"We believe in modern international cooperation, where the patient comes first and health is not held hostage to political interests," he added.
Mario Lugones's speech at the UN
To conclude, the head of the national health portfolio emphasized: “We believe in international cooperation, but a modern cooperation: free, transparent, and evidence-based, not on global slogans. Argentina has already started down this path. We trust that other free nations will join this new paradigm, where the patient comes first and health is not held hostage to political interests.”
The Minister's agenda also included participation in the event “Revolutionizing Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Care: Expanding Access through Primary Health Care”, organized by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) together with Saudi Arabia and Mexico; at the roundtable breakfast “Every Minute Counts: Accelerating the Global Response to NCDs through Urgent Action on Stroke”; and at the breakfast on multilateralism in health, together with representatives from different countries.
Minister Lugones's address confirms the paradigm shift being driven by the Government in health matters.
Argentina is leaving behind improvisation and isolation to move toward a preventive, transparent, and evidence-based model, while regaining a leading role in the international discussion on health policies.
