Madrid, Spain, 8 February 2023 (PAHO) – The Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr. Jarbas Barbosa today met with the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, to discuss renewed support for health programs in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The meeting took place at the Palace of Moncloa, where the President of the Government of Spain and the PAHO Director discussed key areas of cooperation to implement some of the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, such as increased equity in the availability of medicines and health technologies, capacity building to strengthen health workforces and programs to address mental health.
“Spain was a key PAHO partner during the pandemic to increase vaccine access to people in Latin America and the Caribbean,” the PAHO Director said. “We will continue to work together to strengthen health systems in the region,” he added.
President Sánchez reaffirmed the “assiduous collaboration” with PAHO, a traditional partner of Spain in humanitarian projects, especially through the country’s agency for international development, AECID.
“PAHO played a key role in the delivery and distribution, in collaboration with Spanish embassies, of the first vaccine donations directed to Latin American countries,” the President said. As the Americas became the epicenter of the pandemic in 2021, Spain provided over 22.8 million doses through COVAX to the subregion.
Spain became a PAHO observer state in 1980 and is one of the five non-American States in the organization. The country also leads on the fourth thematic line - support to health workers – of the COVID-19 Pandemic Prioritized Global Action Plan for Enhanced Engagement (GAP).
PAHO is the specialized health agency for the Inter-American System and serves as the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Americas.
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