Juan Luis Manzur (born 8 January 1969) is an Argentine surgeon and politician. A member of the

Justicialist Party The Justicialist Party ( es, Partido Justicialista, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Current president Alberto Fernández belongs to the Justicialist Party (and has, since 2021, served ...

, he currently serves as

Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers The Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Argentine Nation ( es, Jefe de Gabinete de Ministros de la Nación Argentina; JGM), more commonly known simply as the Cabinet Chief ( es, Jefe de Gabinete) is a ministerial office within the governmen ...

, under President

Alberto Fernández Alberto Ángel Fernández (; born 2 April 1959) is an Argentine politician, lawyer and professor, serving as president of Argentina since 2019. Born in Buenos Aires, Fernández attended the University of Buenos Aires, where he earned his law ...

. He previously served as

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

of Argentina from 2009 to 2015, and as

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Tucumán Province Tucumán () is the most densely populated, and the second-smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina. Located in the northwest of the country, the province has the capital of San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neigh ...

from 2015 to 2021.

Early life and education

Manzur was born in

San Miguel de Tucumán San Miguel de Tucumán (; usually called simply Tucumán) is the capital and largest city of Tucumán Province, located in northern Argentina from Buenos Aires. It is the fifth-largest city of Argentina after Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Rosario an ...

to a

Maronite Catholic The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic '' sui iuris'' particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. The current head of the Mar ...

father from

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

and an Argentine mother. He received a

medical degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...

from the

University of Tucumán A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

and completed his

residency Residency may refer to: * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place ** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship * Residency (medicine), a stage of postgrad ...

at the public Álvarez Hospital, in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. Manzur later received a master's degree in Health Systems and Services Administration from the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one o ...

Political career

Following a stint as Vice Minister of Health for the

Province of San Luis San Luis () is a province of Argentina located near the geographical center of the country (on the 32° South parallel). Neighboring provinces are, from the north clockwise, La Rioja, Córdoba, La Pampa, Mendoza and San Juan. History The ci ...

, in 2002 he was named Public Health Secretary of the District of La Matanza, a western, mainly blue-collar suburb of the Argentine capital. Recommended by the National Health Minister,

Ginés González García Ginés González García (born 31 August 1945) is an Argentine medical doctor who served twice as the country's Ministry of Health (Argentina), Minister of Health under President Alberto Fernández, from 2019 to 2021, and under the successive pres ...

, Manzur was appointed Health Minister of

by the new Governor,

José Alperovich José Jorge Alperovich (born 13 April 1955) is an Argentine politician and who has served as governor of Tucumán Province from 2003 to 2015. He was elected in 2003, and reelected in 2007 and 2011. He is married to Beatriz Rojkés de Alperovich ...

, in 2003. Manzur soon earned plaudits in his post, which oversaw public health in one of Argentina's least-developed provinces. One widely used yardstick of public health, the

infant mortality rate Infant mortality is the death of young children under the age of 1. This death toll is measured by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the probability of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births. The under-five morta ...

, fell from 23 per 1,000 births (40% above the national average) in 2003, to 13 in 2006 (matching the national average).DEIS: indicadores básicos, 2005 (2003 data)
The

perinatal mortality Perinatal mortality (PNM) refers to the death of a fetus or neonate and is the basis to calculate the perinatal mortality rate. Variations in the precise definition of the perinatal mortality exist, specifically concerning the issue of inclusion o ...

rate (a late fetal death, or of an infant under one week old) likewise fell during the same period in Tucumán from 24 to 18 per 1,000 births. These news helped Manzur secure Governor Alperovich's nod to be a running mate for his successful, 2007 bid for re-election.

Health minister

Manzur was sworn in on July 1, the day after a public health emergency was declared over a worsening

H1N1 In virology, influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (A/H1N1) is a subtype of influenza A virus. Major outbreaks of H1N1 strains in humans include the Spanish flu, the 1977 Russian flu pandemic and the 2009 swine flu pandemic. It is an orthomyxovirus ...

virus ("swine flu")

epidemic An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics ...

, which had claimed 44 fatalities by the time he was sworn in. His tenure would thereafter be focused on expanding

childhood immunizations The schedule for childhood immunizations in the United States is published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The vaccination schedule is broken down by age: birth to six years of age, seven to eighteen, and adults nineteen a ...

, childhood

preventive medicine Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, consists of measures taken for the purposes of disease prevention.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental hea ...

, diagnostic care against

coeliac disease Coeliac disease (British English) or celiac disease (American English) is a long-term autoimmune disorder, primarily affecting the small intestine, where individuals develop intolerance to gluten, present in foods such as wheat, rye and barle ...

and

HPV Human papillomavirus infection (HPV infection) is caused by a DNA virus from the '' Papillomaviridae'' family. Many HPV infections cause no symptoms and 90% resolve spontaneously within two years. In some cases, an HPV infection persists and re ...

mobile health mHealth (also written as m-health or mhealth) is an abbreviation for mobile health, a term used for the practice of medicine and public health supported by mobile devices. The term is most commonly used in reference to using mobile communication ...

, access to

organ transplant Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be transpo ...

s, and

smoking cessation Smoking cessation, usually called quitting smoking or stopping smoking, is the process of discontinuing tobacco smoking. Tobacco smoke contains nicotine, which is addictive and can cause dependence. As a result, nicotine withdrawal often make ...

programs. Staunch opposition from the powerful

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

forced Manzur to reverse steps toward protecting women's

reproductive rights Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health that vary amongst countries around the world. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows: Reproductive rights rest on t ...

, cancelling proposals in 2010 that would have guarantee access to legal abortions. He stepped down as Health Minister in February 2015 to return to the post of Vice Governor of Tucumán, and was expected to run to succeed Governor Alperovich in provincial elections later in the year.

Cabinet Chief

On 20 September 2021, Manzur was appointed as

by President

in replacement of

Santiago Cafiero Santiago Andrés Cafiero (born 30 August 1979) is an Argentine political scientist and politician, serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship in the cabinet of President Alberto Fernández since 2021. Previously, from 2019 to 2021, he wa ...

. Manzur's appointment was part of a cabinet reshuffle following the government's poor showings in the 2021 legislative primary elections. Manzur did not resign from his position as governor of Tucumán, instead taking a leave of office while vice governor Osvaldo Jaldo assumed interim executive powers.

References

External links

Official website of the Governorship of Tucumán
(in Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Manzur, Juan Luis 1969 births Living people People from San Miguel de Tucumán Argentine people of Lebanese descent Argentine Maronites University of Buenos Aires alumni Argentine surgeons Maronite politicians Justicialist Party politicians Argentine ministers of health Chiefs of Cabinet of Ministers of Argentina