Aracataca, Magdalena, November 3, 2022. Joined by the president of the Republic, Gustavo Petro; the mayor of Aracataca, Luis Emilio Correa, and the governor of Magdalena, Carlos Caicedo, the minister of health and social protection, Carolina Corcho, officially presented the Preventive and Predictive Health Program.

At the beginning of her speech, Minister Corcho referred to the symbol behind presenting the program in Aracataca, the land of Gabriel García-Márquez and One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Her initial message focused on referring back to the claims of the banana growers in 1928, which fundamentally focused on a reform of medical services and the construction of latrines.

"Today the Government is arriving, almost 100 years later, to comply with that list of demands from the workers," said the minister.

Regarding the program that was presented today, she stated that it started with 1,007 medical teams and health personnel, that recognizes ancestral knowledge, traditional doctors and that wishes to bring back the figure of the health promoter.

"We are starting with 213 municipalities that today showed their experiences, of the accumulated public health, of experiences that have continued despite the fact that this health system did not give priority to that," said the minister.

She assured that the current system has focused on treating the disease and abandoned prevention. For this reason, "this health system has to return to a prevention vocation, to discuss the social determinants of health or the climate crisis, for example," the minister said.

On the other hand, she explained that this Thursday's session included the participation of various territorial experiences, such as Magdalena, Antioquia, Bogotá, Pasto, Quindío, Valle, Cali, Boyacá, Medellín, Cundinamarca, Coyaima, Villavicencio, Manizales, Vaupés.

"I want to say that our intention is for these teams, which travel through the territory, to be the gateway to the health system to detect the disease, promote health. There can be no discrimination of any citizen to participate in the program," said the minister during her speech.

Similarly, she stressed that this program will be accompanied by investment in hospital infrastructure, primary health care centers, health posts in all municipalities, villages and districts.

"The medical mission is also important in the program. The medical mission is the protection of health personnel in all corners of the territory, so that their lives are taken care of and they can take care of life," said Minister Corcho.

Finally, she stressed that the next stage refers to building integrated and comprehensive health networks. "This is what we want to present as the beginning of a first stage, with which public health will be reborn."