WASHINGTON, CMC – As the year draws to a close, PAHO says it focused on primary healthcare, infectious diseases, and pandemic preparedness in 2023 in the Americas, including the Caribbean.
In a release on Wednesday, PAHO noted o\ that Dr. Jarbas Barbosa began his tenure as PAHO director on January 31, pledging to work with member states to end the pandemic and ensure the region’s health systems recover more robust than before.
On May 5, PAHO said World Health Organization (WHO) Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, accepted the advice of the Emergency Committee on COVID-19 and announced that “the pandemic would no longer constitute a public health emergency of internal concern (PHEIC).”
“The end of the COVID-19 emergency ushered in a year of recovery and rebuilding for the Americas and has permitted a refocus on other health priorities, including noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), infectious disease elimination, and pandemic preparedness,” PAHO said.
Connecting Health for All, on July 25, PAHO celebrated five years of collaboration in information systems and digital health with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
“This partnership is crucial in supporting national health systems to use data to become more resilient.”
This year has also seen the continued development of PAHO’s Innovation and Regional Production Platform to promote the regional development of vaccines and other health technologies, “thus reducing the reliance of the Americas on imports during times of emergencies.”
On September 27, Dr. Barbosa launched Better Care for NCDs: Accelerating Actions in Primary Health Care.
“This initiative aims to support countries in ensuring primary health care services that are high quality, safe, comprehensive, integrated, accessible and affordable for everyone,” it said.
In September, PAHO said its Elimination Initiative, which seeks to end more than 30 infectious diseases and related conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean, “received new impetus.”
“The lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, including a deeper understanding of health inequalities, will serve as an opportunity for countries to accelerate the pace of the initiative,” it said.
On October 2, PAHO said Dr. Barbosa signed a new agreement with Argentine health, science, and technology authorities to increase capacities for developing and producing mRNA vaccines for regional use.
In December, PAHO was also at “the forefront of conversations” around the health impact of climate change at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, where the PAHO Assistant Director, Dr. Rhonda Sealey-Thomas, “underscored the organization’s work to strengthen actions to develop climate-resilient health systems.”
To ensure that PAHO is best placed to support countries of the region in rebuilding health systems post-pandemic and strengthening emergency preparedness, PAHO said that this year, its director also launched PAHO Forward, “an initiative to improve PAHO’s efficiency, transparency and accountability.”
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