Mexican President Calderon on Public Health
By:
NWHF Staff
| Posted on: May 6th, 2009
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In case you’ve only been following U.S. news sources, Mexican President Felipe Calderon has been speaking about the Influenza A/H1N1 virus quite a bit lately.
Among the remarks in his weekly radio address on May 4, he explained how “the Federal Government took firm decisions to protect your and your families’ health and responded to this problem with great strength of character.”
Calderon was quick to also thank “the doctors, nurses and administrative workers in the health sector who have worked tirelessly over the past few days and saved the lives of thousands of people who, as a result of being treated in time, have been cured.”
He also thanked all the children in Mexico for “their bravery and the responsibility with which their parents have followed the Health Secretariat’s instructions.”
Among the Health Secretariat’s instructions: organize school screeners to ensure that the children and young people coming in to class have no symptoms that could jeopardize their health or that of their classmates.
Calderon added that “we must continue to instill in our children the importance of constantly washing our hands, not sharing food, cutlery, glasses, snacks or school supplies among many other hygiene measures that should form part of our children’s routine from now onwards.”
“Fortunately,” he said, “Mexico was already preparing for a contingency such as this, which is why we had a stock of medicine that has been more than sufficient for dealing with all the cases that have arisen in the country’s hospitals and clinics.”
“For government and I am sure for your families too, the most important thing is health.”
The following day, on May 5, as Calderon announced the cancellation of Cinco de Mayo celebrations, he said that “Mexican doctors and nurses are on the front lines in the field of battle against this new blow to humanity. Here we have been defending all of humanity against this virus.”
Who says public health is not prioritized at the highest levels of government?
Who says public health workers don’t get enough credit for what they do?
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