The Max FoundationIt is a struggle to deal with a family member having cancer emotionally, physically and financially. The burden of paying for a family member’s hospital bills makes it difficult to pay for other things like food, shelter and clothing. The Max Foundation in Argentina has stepped up to this challenge by helping cancer patients get the treatment that they need.

Poverty Rates

Argentina’s poverty rate was 35.5% at the end of 2019, which shows a steady increase over the past few years. The poverty rate of children younger than 14 is 53%. The statistics have gotten better in the six years prior to 2018, an 18.7% drop in poverty rates. However, COVID-19 has not been kind to Argentina as the country continues to battle its two-year recession.


In addition to the poverty rate and pandemic, Argentina is not immune to cancer either. Every year more than 110,000 people are diagnosed with some form of cancer in Argentina. Some of the causes of cancer in this country are tobacco and HPV.

Around 22% of the population smokes and children who are between the ages of 13 and 15 are six points higher than that. Out of all the deaths caused by cancer, 26% are caused by tobacco. Argentina does have the resources to enact preventative measures. The country has even enacted breast cancer screening, although most women do not attend regularly. However, more could still be done.

That’s why organizations like the Max Foundation are so important. Poverty is hard enough to try to overcome when one is healthy let alone when having to fight cancer. Cancer patients need organizations like the Max Foundation, so they have one less thing to worry about during the tough fight for their life.

The Max Foundation

The Max Foundation has been around since 1997. The Rivarola family left Argentina to travel to the U.S. to get cancer treatment for their son Max. The organization was founded when he passed away. Other families in Latin America have children with leukemia just like Max, and the Rivarola family wanted to do something for them.

Now, The Max Foundation provides cancer treatments to countries all around the world. The world has seen that viruses like COVID-19 have no borders and neither does cancer. The Max Foundation almost has no borders as well. It has served 73 countries and given over 11 million cancer treatments to people as of the start of 2017.

The Max Foundation works by offering help to patients whose doctors have recommended them. The organization then gets the medicine to them through the partner companies. The medicine is donated by pharmaceutical companies like The Tanner Pharma Group.

Argentina’s poverty rate has not been helped by the recent pandemic. COVID-19 is not diminishing cancer diagnosis either. But there is still hope. The Max Foundation has been helping cancer patients for years and they are a light in the dark for the cancer patients of Argentina as well as many other countries around the world.

Moriah Thomas
Photo: Flickr

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poverty in argentinaArgentina is a presidential republic that achieved its independence from Spain in 1816. Starting with the election of President Mauricio Macri in November of 2015, a promise of reform and international reintegration was on the minds of many Argentinians. The current president, Alberto Fernandez promised further reform and economic improvement in Argentina. However, poverty is an issue that the country must overcome in order to realize the dream of a better country. The current state of poverty in Argentina is of question as well as the measures taken to alleviate the issue.

Poverty Levels in Argentina

The poverty rate in Argentina is on the rise. In 2017, the CIA estimated that 25.7% of Argentina’s population lived below the poverty line. This poverty rate increased to 35.4% in 2019 and in the same year, it rose again to 40.8%. This is also reflected in Argentina’s GDP which declined from $642.7 billion in 2017 to $450 billion in 2019.

Many attribute the current state of poverty in Argentina to the unregulated spending of the Argentinian government. Additionally, many critics of the government’s economic policies claim that by spending more than what they have, the government created a public deficit. This increasing fiscal deficit led to inflation which is at the root of Argentina’s poverty.

Reasons for Poverty in Argentina

As mentioned, inflation resulted from the increasing fiscal deficit of the Argentinian government. However, this was also a consequence of the continuous printing of pesos to pay off debts. Consequently,  Argentina’s consumer prices rose 53.8% in 2019. The lack of affordability of food, for example, had drastic effects on Argentinian citizens’ lives. In addition, the Central Bank of Argentina rapidly sold its reserve of foreign currency in order to counterbalance the rapid depreciation of the peso. During the same time period, the Central Bank also increased interest rates to 45%. All of these factors further contributed to the additional inflation in the Argentinian economy.

How Poverty in Argentina is Being Alleviated

There are many people and organizations who are trying to alleviate poverty in Argentina. One aspect of poverty is homelessness. In 2019, there were an estimated 198,000 homeless in Buenos Aires alone. Tadeo Donegana, an 18-year-old Argentinian student, developed a map app called Ayumapp to help the homeless of Argentina. Ayumapp allows its users to add locations of the homeless in their respective cities. Users can also add comments about what kind of specific help the homeless need.

The UNDP is also working with the Argentinian government to reduce poverty in the country. By furthering their Sustainable Development Goals, the UNDP has made progress in alleviating poverty. Some of UNDP’s outcomes include guaranteed food security for 198,000 people, providing healthcare to 15 million people without health insurance and training 7,500 youth to join the labor market.

Poverty in Argentina has its roots in the Argentinian government’s unrestrained spending. The huge fiscal deficit that resulted from this government spending and failed attempts to revitalize the Argentinian economy led to massive inflation. This inflation resulted in a lack of food affordability and homelessness in Argentina. However, there are those who are working tirelessly to better the current situation in Argentina. With this continuous support, many hope that a brighter future lies ahead for the country.

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Renewable Energy in ArgentinaOver the past decade, various countries within Latin America have begun to develop their renewable energy sector, including Argentina, which has been able to flourish under the use of this new technology. Abundant winds are present in the Patagonia region located in the south, while in the northwest there is constant sunshine. The use of renewable energy in Argentina is as beneficial for economic reasons as it is for environmental reasons. It creates new jobs and attracts foreign investment, both of which are beneficial to those living in poverty.

Economic Independence

Argentina has employed renewable energy in Argentina for several reasons. For one, the nation wants to be economically independent, and not rely on imports from other countries to meet their energy needs. Argentina struggled through default of $100 billion in 2001, losing 75% of its currency value. In 2005, energy subsidies grew from 1.5% to 12% within only a few years, sharply increasing government spending. Low investment in the domestic energy sector also made Argentina dependent on importing oil from other countries. In order to diversify its energy sector and remove its independence, Argentina sought out its own abundant natural and renewable resources.

Argentina has also made the transition to renewable energy because the country possesses many regions that are adaptable to solar and wind farming. Helpfully, the areas of Argentina with the most wind and solar energy potential are sparsely populated, meaning that the installation of wind turbines and solar panels are not as invasive to people’s homes or property.

Wind Energy

Many of the most powerful winds in Argentina can be found in the Patagonia region, located near the Argentina-Chile border. Argentina’s largest wind farm, called the Madryn Wind Farm, is located in this region. It has the capacity to produce 987,000 MW of energy per year. The wind farm became operational in 2019 and is home to 62 wind turbines, each 117 meters high.

Solar Energy

Many, but not all, of Argentina’s solar panels can be found on farms in the province of Entre Rios. Some of the farmers in this province raise rice and are reliant on water pumps to water their crops. Previously, these farmers had often gone out of business because they could not afford the fuel to power these necessary pumps; with the installation of solar panels, however, farmers can now rely on cheaper solar energy for power. This is an especially important development, considering that 13% of Argentina’s GDP comes from agriculture. The installation of solar panels has helped farmers keep their livelihoods and contribute to national economic growth.

Solar panels have also contributed to safety in the Puna Highlands of Argentina. A village located in the highlands, called San Francisco, used to be difficult to traverse at night. But thanks to the installation of 40 solar panels that power LED lights within the village after sunset, that is no longer the case. The village can now be easily spotted at night, and travelers no longer have to wait until sunrise to leave the village.

These examples are just a few ways in which renewable energy in Argentina can benefit people living in poverty and improve the economy. This technology must be pursued and perfected in years to come to guarantee further progress.

Jacob E. Lee
Photo: Wikimedia

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Argentia's slums, Buenos Aires slums
Argentina is the fifth-highest country with the most COVID-19 cases in South America, with 111,000 recorded cases by mid-July. Moreover, Argentina’s COVID-19 related death toll has nearly doubled since June, surpassing 5,000 cases. Confirmed illnesses continue to be on the rise, with more than half concentrated in the urban hotspot of Buenos Aires City. Approximately 88% of all cases in Argentina are reported from within Buenos Aires, its impoverished slums or its surrounding regions.

COVID-19 in Argentina

While the federal government acted early to contain the virus, including imposing a strict nightly curfew since March, Argentina’s most impoverished remain extremely susceptible to COVID-19 and its dire economic consequences. For example, within Buenos Aires’ slums, families often have to sell their homes to afford meals for their families.

Nearly half of all Buenos Aires cases were estimated to be in its slums in late May. In some instances, outbreaks became so alarming that the government would enforce security and fences around these neighborhoods to ensure residents do not spread the virus—at the expense of residents’ increased impoverishment.

Regional non-governmental organizations (NGOs) within Argentina recognized these hardships faced by low-income Argentinians and are currently working to mitigate the health and economic consequences. Here are five NGOs battling COVID-19 in Argentina’s slums.

5 NGOs Fighting COVID-19 in Argentina’s Slums

  1. Chequeado, Spanish for “Checked,” is an online journalism platform that fact-checks public information on Argentinian politics and society. The organization’s website has recently launched a new COVID-19 section to keep citizens informed about the fact-based science behind the virus. The section also covers COVID-19 cases and newly implanted preventative measures. Headlines range from the effectiveness of spraying items with alcohol to the evidence surrounding the transmission of COVID-19 by air. Given the growing number of slum residents having access to the internet due to Argentina’s globalization efforts, this news outlet is accessible to slum residents who would not have access to the information otherwise.
  2. International Organization for Migration, or IOM, works with state and non-state actors to assist migrants through various means, ranging from counter-trafficking to resettlement support. During the COVID-19 pandemic, IOM is working with the Argentine Red Cross to provide food and cleaning supplies to vulnerable migrants. The organization is also ensuring all migrants understand COVID-19 precautions, translating public information to French for migrants from Haiti and Senegal, as well as English for migrants from Jamaica.
  3. Pequeños Pasos, translating to “small steps,” aims to bring sustainable development to the lives of Argentina’s impoverished. While the NGO focuses on missions ranging from education to employment, health and nutrition have been at the forefront of its efforts. Given the looming issue of extreme food insecurity due to COVID-19, Pequeños Pasos has launched an emergency food project to feed more than 12,500 people at risk of hunger in Buenos Aires slums. For a year, the NGO will provide monthly emergency food bags to vulnerable families.
  4. Asociación Civil Ingeniería sin Fronteras Argentina is a civil engineering organization that has taken on the project to quadruple the capacity of ventilators in Argentine hospitals. This solution aims to alleviate the possibility of ICU units reaching over-capacity and providing a sufficient number of ventilators for COVID-19 patients. The project aims to raise $7,015 to expand Argentina’s existing ventilator capacity, potentially saving thousands of Argentine lives. As a disproportionate number of slum-dwellers are contracting the virus, this aid will help them overcome the effects of COVID-19.
  5. Las Tunas is an education-based NGO that offers children and adolescents various educational resources, including scholarships and arts empowerment classes. In light of the socio-economic effects of COVID-19, the organization has expanded its efforts to help families remain economically stable. New website resources include a “Monitoring, Accompaniment and Early Detections” program that helps set up productive quarantine routines for families. The NGO also has a unique “Economic Development” program, which provides families with business strategies and training materials to increase household incomes. Original educational programs for youth are now also delivered online.

Looking Ahead

While COVID-19 cases in Argentina have overwhelmingly affected the country’s impoverished populations, diverse civil society organizations are working to combat the effects of COVID-19 in Argentina’s slums. Whether through economic empowerment or preventing misinformation on COVID-19, these five NGOs aim to stabilize Argentina’s most marginalized’s living conditions during the pandemic.

—Breana Stanski
Photo: Flickr

Healthcare in ArgentinaThe system used today for providing healthcare in Argentina was developed during a period of economic glory for the country. This economic reform was achieved throughout the 1940-50s period of urbanization, industrialization and labor movements. Since then, healthcare in Argentina has been largely decentralized and privatized to provincial-level support. Healthcare services and resources are divided across three sectors. The public sector offers all services free of charge and is used primarily by those without social security. The Obras Sociales sector, which is funded by compulsory social security, is used primarily by workers. The private sector, which users pay for entirely out of pocket, is the most exclusive. On average across sectors, a ratio of 3.6 physicians treats 1,000 people.

5 Important Facts Related to Healthcare in Argentina

  1. The gross domestic product (GDP) expenditure for healthcare in Argentina is high. According to World Bank statistics from 2017 for Argentina’s current health expenditure, health services contribute to 9.12% of the annual GDP of the country. This percentage is significantly higher than that of 2016, which was 7.54% of GDP. Argentina’s health expenditure is also 1.1% higher than the average for its Latin American regional context. Argentina can still make improvements by creating universal health services across the country, but since the introduction of a Universal Health Plan in 2016, Argentina’s health expenditure has risen. Because of the shift from state to provincial-level control of healthcare in Argentina, there are inconsistencies between the provincial-level distribution of funds toward the healthcare system. The physician to population ratio between the autonomous city of Buenos Aires and the Misiones province can trace the inconsistency of healthcare access across provinces. In Buenos Aires, 10.2 physicians serve a population of 1,000, while in Misiones there are just 1.2 physicians to every 1,000 people.
  2. Argentina has successfully lowered rates of poverty-linked communicable diseases, like Chagas. Chagas, which is a vector-borne disease, has seen lower rates of transmission within eight out of the 19 endemic provinces of Argentina that it has previously been found. The interruption of vector and congenital transmission of the Chagas disease achieved these lowered rates. The development of strategies to combat other communicable diseases within Argentina, like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB), are still in dire need of support. One organization, called Mundo Sano, is working on strategies to interrupt the transmission of congenital HIV/AIDS between mother and child as of 2020. Statistics from United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS) research shows that as of 2016, 91% of women living with HIV/AIDS were already seeking out either antiretroviral or prophylaxes treatment to prevent vertical transmission. As a result, an estimated less than 100 children contracted the disease. With support from Mundo Sano, vertical transmission rates of HIV/AIDS could decrease even further.
  3. Argentina has developed action plans to combat the prevalence of multiple non-communicable diseases. As of 2014, metabolic diseases accounted for 4% of all deaths and cancers accounted for 20% of deaths. Most notably, 28% of all deaths in the country were attributed to diseases of the circulatory system. Once implemented, policies will be used to regulate food advertising, fiscal policies and front-of-package labeling. With funding to support the implementation of these policies, the incidence of certain non-communicable diseases could decrease significantly in Argentina.
  4. Natural disaster relief is available to all 23 provinces of Argentina. Instances of climatic stress to the diverse terrain of the country emerge most commonly as volcanic eruptions, floods, earthquakes, landslides, mudslides, tornados, storms, heatwaves and wildfires. The Argentine government established the National Directorate of Health Emergencies agency to prevent and mitigate the effects of a disaster. Environmental threats to public health across Argentina are combatted locally by provincial disaster response teams that operate under the national level agency.
  5. The aging population has free healthcare in Argentina. The National Institute of Social Services for Retirees and Pensioners (PAMI) in Argentina was created in 1971 to provide comprehensive healthcare and support to the country’s aging population. Since its beginnings, PAMI has implemented multiple programs for the betterment of health for Argentina’s elderly. Among the services available through PAMI are free healthcare for those 65 or more years old, along with preventative care resources like immunization and support networks. According to 2018 data from the World Bank, the average life expectancy across the Argentine population from birth is 76.52 years old, which has been steadily increasing since the creation of PAMI.

Since the 1940-50s economic reform in Argentina, the healthcare system has grown fragmented across the public, social security and private sectors. Healthcare sectors depend on the autonomous power of provincial-level governments and are therefore divided from one another.

In 2016, the government of Argentina responded to the fragmented nature of the system and introduced a Universal Health Plan. This plan is meant to increase the efficiency of coverage by compiling national health records into a single system, making patient identification more accessible across sectors. With cross-sector recognition and agreement for universalizing healthcare in Argentina, along with financial support for the cause, the country could achieve a healthier population overall.

Lilia Wilson
Photo: Flickr