Originally from Brazil, he is an important reference in the Health Movement that seeks to promote health as a human right.
The renowned Doctor in Collective Health, Emerson Elías Merhy, received the title Doctor Honoris Causa of the Universidad Nacional de Rosario. The event took place at the University Cultural Space, and it was the rector Franco Bartolacci and the Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Darío Maiorana, who carried out this delivery.
Originally from Brazil, Merhy is an important reference in the Health Movement that seeks to promote health as a human right and not as a commodity. Thirty years ago, Rosario served as an inspiration to emphasize deepening public health.
The Rector stressed that this recognition means a declaration of principles for the University regarding what place health should occupy and why it is necessary to conceive it as a right. “I am convinced that when institutions decide to recognize someone for their career, they say a lot about the person being recognized, but they also say a lot about themselves. About how they think and how they stand in the face of transcendent debates,” he commented.
Also, Bartolacci highlighted the importance of continuing to promote this type of process in the face of the serious situation that all of Latin America is currently facing. “It is necessary to think again from our own history and values. From that perspective, build positions and public policies that not only say what we think but also oppose the great hegemonic currents. Health is one of those great topics. Luckily we are in a city that has made public health its flag and it is something that we have to defend as a right won by the people of Rosario.”
Maiorana stressed that Merhy's contributions in the field have been very important since he generated a different perspective on how to look at health: that it is not based on institutionalization but rather promotes the creation of networks for the benefit of society as a whole. . “She put the focus on issues that were not always raised and that we enjoy today. Thinking about health in a framework of human rights and as a state policy has been essential to change university education,” she determined.
Emerson Elías Merhy expressed his happiness at receiving such recognition from a Public University. He commented that he sees Argentina as a second home since he always found a strong vocation for promoting health as a right. “Unlike Brazil, in Argentina the idea was established that health was for everyone much faster. My country was under a dictatorship for 20 years, and it is very difficult to build in a country totally marked by inequality. That is why it seems to me that militarizing public health is totally necessary.”
Finally, the honoree emphasized that to consolidate health reform it must be clear from the start that all lives have value and are equal. “We had to make health a molecular democracy, which happens in the encounter with the other, since if we only stay in the formal aspects it may happen that it does not happen in reality. Health is not a market good that has to be bought, it is a right that has to be guaranteed.”
Journalist: Gonzalo J. García / Photographer: Pablo Correa