Dear Friends and Colleagues
The 2023 holiday period marks the close of my first calendar year as Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
I am proud of all PAHO has accomplished to advance our mission of improving health in the Americas, and I remain committed to addressing the challenges that lie ahead.
The end of the COVID-19 pandemic as a public health emergency ushered in a year of recovery and rebuilding for our Region. We made progress recouping the health losses we suffered and took important steps to improve the resiliency of our health systems.
We also refocused attention on other top health priorities. This past year, PAHO redoubled its efforts on noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), infectious disease elimination, and pandemic preparedness.
Our new initiative, Better Care for Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs): Accelerating Actions in Primary Health Care, will enable us to integrate NCD management into primary health care services, with a particular focus on underserved populations – allowing us to more effectively address the rising burden of hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and other NCDs in our Region.
We relaunched PAHO’s Elimination Initiative, helping countries harness lessons learned from the pandemic to accelerate the pace of elimination of serious diseases. These diseases, too, disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in our Region, from cervical cancer to TB and malaria to HIV/AIDS and neglected tropical diseases. Belize has recently been certified malaria-free, following the pathway of Argentina, El Salvador and Paraguay and inspiring others in the Region.
The toll of the pandemic made it clear that we must ensure the Americas are better prepared for future emergencies. Throughout 2023, PAHO supported our Member States to present proposals to the Pandemic Fund and conveyed three in-person meetings to guarantee that each country is well informed and actively participating in debate on the new Accord for Pandemics and the changes in the International Health Regulation that will be approved in 2024. I am proud that this unique initiative among the six WHO’s Regions has also allowed the countries to build consensus on strategic topics and present common statements from the Americas in the next World Health Assembly. This is the way to have our Region and the world better prepared for a future emergency. We’ve also repositioned our successful 5-year collaboration on Information Systems for Health with the Inter-American Development Bank to include accelerate digital transformation in public health that can help national health systems use data to become more resilient and strengthen Primary Health Care.
Meanwhile, we continue to develop our Regional Platform to Advance the Manufacturing of COVID-19 and other Health Technologies in the Americas – a groundbreaking initiative that aims to reduce our dependency on external imports of vaccines and medical supplies and contribute to more equitable access.
Achieving our health equity goals requires that we take a broad view to address other determinants of health, such as climate change and gender inequality. Our new Assistant Director led the PAHO delegation at COP28 earlier this month and will continue to work with Member States to ensure that the commitments of the first ever Health Day at COP are translated into action. PAHO is also taking a cross-sectional lens to address gender and other societal barriers that undermine access to services and ensure that we better serve the most vulnerable.
Finally, with these bold targets set out before us, we are strengthening PAHO’s ability to work swiftly and efficiently towards them. Earlier this year, we launched PAHO Forward, a new initiative to improve the effectiveness of our Organization, better serve the needs of our Member States and ultimately enhance health and well-being for all people across the Americas. A crucial part of this initiative is to implement several initiatives to promote a respectable workplace, personal and professional growth of our staff and a better work-life balance.
Still, we can’t achieve these goals in isolation.
We thank you for your ongoing collaboration and partnership throughout the past year. Without your support, PAHO would not have been able to make so much progress towards ensuring everyone in the Americas receives the health care they need.
We look forward to a 2024 in which we build on our collective strengths to improve lives across our Region. I wish you a happy and healthy holiday season.
Jarbas Barbosa da Silva Jr.
Director
Pan American Health Organization
Disclaimer
This article was posted in its entirety as received by SKNVibes.com. This media house does not correct any spelling or grammatical error within press releases and commentaries. The views expressed therein are not necessarily those of SKNVibes.com, its sponsors or advertisers
