Church to help sick in poorest countries, Vatican official says

Published: 2005-05-24

GENEVA (CNS) -- A Vatican official told health ministers from around the world that the Catholic Church would continue to dedicate its resources to helping the sick in the world's poorest countries. Easily treatable infectious diseases are spreading in the Third World while science is focused on creating treatments and drugs for sale in the world's richest nations, said Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers. The cardinal represented the Vatican at the May 16-25 World Health Assembly in Geneva, the annual gathering of representatives from the World Health Organization's 192 member states. The assembly focused on a full range of health issues, but Cardinal Lozano, like many of the speakers, focused on HIV/AIDS, the situation of the poor and the health needs of mothers and their children.

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