Argentina’s healthcare is crumbling under its worst ever dengue epidemic and Milei’s presidency

Dengue epidemic

Amid political change, Argentina, along with many other countries in South America, is suffering from the worst dengue fever outbreak in its history. With over 315 000 reported cases and 238 deaths (to 21 April), Argentina exceeded previous annual records in the first months of 2024.

“There is no leadership,” says Tomás Orduna, the former head of tropical medicine and travel medicine at Hospital Muñiz in Buenos Aires. “There is no plan for mitigating the outbreak, no communication at all, no measures to control the mosquitoes that transmit the virus. This lack of action affects coordination in the provinces. There is no support for hydration units, for example, or mosquito nets for sick people.”

The BMJ contacted the ministry of health but has not had a reply. On 1 April, however, the ministry published a statement blaming the current outbreak on a “lack of preventative measures by the previous government.” Health minister Mario Russo told the media that the ministry works “with a low profile” which should not be confused with inaction.3

Mystery also surrounds the use of Qdenga, a dengue vaccine produced by Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda and approved for use in Argentina in April 2023. Despite the epidemic, presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni told the media on 4 March the vaccine’s “effectiveness is not proven.” This statement was disputed by the National Committee of Immunizations—an independent committee of experts reporting to the health ministry—who said it has been proved effective in clinical trials. At the time of writing, Qdenga is available free in three northern provinces—Corrientes, Misiones, and Salta—whose regional governments chose to purchase and distribute the vaccine independent of federal assistance. It is otherwise available to buy privately for $70 a shot—a price out of reach of many citizens—with two jabs required for full immunisation.

A chainsaw to science and the environment

Critics have been relieved that Milei has not, so far, enacted his most extreme campaign promises, such as privatising organ donation and banning abortion (although he repeated his opinion in a March 2024 speech that abortion is “aggravated murder by familial bond”).4

He has, however, taken the “chainsaw,” as he called it in campaigning, to state spending, firing more than 15 000 state employees, leaving services such as national parks and the weather service in turmoil.

There is no longer a ministry of science, its former functions now reduced to a portfolio under Milei’s chief of staff. The budget for the former ministry of science has been frozen at 2023 levels, but with inflation over 100% since December, it marks an effective loss of 50% in real terms.

Many national universities are on the verge of closing because of the sudden halt in state funding. Milei said at a 26 March press conference that public education in Argentina “has done a lot of damage by brainwashing people” with ideas like Marxism.5 The University of Buenos Aires responded in a statement saying that its syllabus is “very similar to that taught in the main universities around the planet” and feared the attack is “mere prejudice, ideological fanaticism, or pure ignorance.”

“There is an official campaign against science and thinking,” says Valeria Levi, a vice dean at the University of Buenos Aires. “The government says that there is no money, but it has announced that will buy military planes from Denmark for $690m—enough to pay 14 years of scholarships. It is not about money, it’s about dismantling all science work in the country.”