Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is an international organism that watches over public health in the Americas with the objective of improving the quality of life an health of the population.

It belongs to the United Nations, serving as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO) and as the health organization of the Inter-American System.

Spanish-speaking countries know it as the Organización Panamericana de la Salud and Portuguese-speaking countries call it Organizção Pan-Americana da Saúde.

Members

PAHO brings together all the countries of Latin America, in addition to some exceptions, such as Puerto Rico, as an Associate Member; France, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are Participating States, and Portugal and Spain are Observer States.

Mission

The Organization’s essential mission is to improve the access to public health of American countries by strengthening national and local health systems and the collaboration with other regional and international Institutions (Ministries of Health, government agencies, etc.).

Actions

The Pan American Health Organization helps countries in the constant fight against infectious diseases such as malaria, cholera, dengue, HIV and tuberculosis, as well as the region’s growing epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, accidents, smoking, addiction to drugs and alcohol and injuries, among others.

Initiatives and priorities

PAHO’s initiatives include the Expanded Program of Immunization, which played a major role in the elimination of smallpox and polio from the Americas; The Tobacco-free Americas initiative; the Regional Coalition for Water and Sanitation to Eliminate Cholera in Hispaniola; The Salts Smart Consortium; the Pan American Network for Drug Regulatory Harmonization; and a blood safety initiative for the improvement of blood safety and efficiency by helping countries reach 100% blood supplies from unpaid voluntary donors.

The Organization’s priorities rest in cutting infant mortality by the mobilization of new political, institutional and financial resources to prevent infant deaths every year through the application of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness strategy. This approach consists on a group of primary health care workers that evaluate the health status of children that are brought to health posts or clinics, and recognize signs of disease and evaluate and treat them.

Training health workers is also on PAHO’s agenda, providing them fellowships, courses and seminars, also by strengthening national training institutions.

Coronavirus

The Organization supports countries in the surveillance, prevention and preparedness to control pandemic and epidemic-prone diseases through the development of evidence-based strategies to predict, prevent, detect and respond.

It also ensures regional surveillance related to these infectious threats.

Contact

525 23^rd Street NW

Washington, DC 20037

Tel.: +1 (202) 9743000

References

https://www.paho.org