Coronavirus

Health Minister changes in Latin America: no-one beats Bolsonaro’s Brazil

health minister brazil
The Health Ministry’s top brass: four bosses in one year. Photo: abio Rodrigues Pozzebom/ABr

The appointment of Marcelo Queiroga as Brazil’s new Health Minister means the country has changed its top health official more times than any other nation in the region since the start of the pandemic, barring those which have held elections or political ruptures since March 2020.

Mr. Queiroga will be Brazil’s fourth Health Minister in the space of a year, all under Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency. Peru, meanwhile, has had six different ministers over the same span, but the country also went through three different presidents in seven days last November. 

Bolivia has had five Health Ministers since March 2020, though it held presidential elections in November and had one top health official arrested for corruption

Neighbors Argentina and Paraguay are on their second Health Ministers, while Uruguay, Venezuela, and Colombia have kept their health authorities intact since the beginning of the pandemic.

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