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Health care is a human right, but also a responsibility of the individual, since in front of adversaries such as tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy diet and lack of exercise, the will of the person is fundamental, said Mexico´s Minister of Health, Jose Narro Robles, by participating in the 71st World Health Assembly, which takes place in Geneva, Switzerland.

He explained that although some enemies of health depend on us and are modifiable, others, such as poverty, inequality, ignorance, hunger and lack of services are served with accurate public policies.

Before the general director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Narro Robles stressed that attention to this fundamental good for the development of nations is also an ethical obligation of governments and there is no way to evade that responsibility.

Therefore, resources should not be spared in health and it is important to find spaces to think about others, exercise solidarity and help those who have less. "How significant it would be that health and care were part of the change that humanity demands," said the Minister of Health.

Finally, he called on all health authorities in the countries attending, to make it possible for health to be for everyone and to prevent new contagious diseases from being installed in society: exclusion, hatred, greed and fanaticism among others.

In his speech, the Director General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that year after year, this organization sets in motion actions to address the health problems afflicting the countries, which has allowed important achievements in the history of the medicine as the eradication of smallpox.

Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on Member States to be proactive in ensuring "health for all", the general theme of debate chosen for this World Health Assembly, which also commemorates the 70th anniversary of WHO.

Prior to the beginning of the World Assembly, the delegations from the countries of the Americas met with the Director of the Pan American Health Organization, Carissa F. Etienne, who presented the WHO work program for the next five years, the debate on universal health coverage, the resolutions that will be discussed on health and the environment, as well as the call to participate in the High Level Meeting of the United Nations on Noncommunicable Diseases that will take place in September.

Delegations from all 194 Member States attend the World Assembly. Its main function is to determine the policies of the Organization, supervise financial policies, and review and adopt the proposed budget program.

The Mexican delegation was headed by the Minister of Health, José Narro Robles and conformed by the Comisionado Federal para la Protección contra Riesgos Sanitarios (COFEPRIS), Julio Sánchez y Tepoz; the Secretario de Salud from the state of Guerrero, Carlos de la Peña Pintos and the general directors of Epidemiología, doctor Cuitlahuac Ruiz Matus and of Relaciones Públicas, Hilda Dávila.

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