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Health Surveillance and Disease Management / Noncommunicable Diseases

Criteria for Submission and Standard Operational Procedures

(For the Monthly Newsletter Chronic Disease Prevention and Control in the Americas)

Chronic Disease News

Link to Newsletter

Editorial Staff
- Dr. James Hospedales,
Unit Chief, a.i., Noncommunicable Disease Unit: Editor-in-Chief & Content Editor.
- Donna Eberwine, Public Information Unit, Copy Editor.
- Pilar Fano,
Assistant to Dr. Hospedales: Main contact person for newsletter, administration, collecting contributions, checking preliminary translations into Spanish.
- Suzanna Stephens,
Information Technician: Layout and design, translation, web searches and production.
- Elizabeth Cafiero,
Technical Officer: Final check for accuracy of technical translations into English; web backup.
- Marķa Pico,
Technical Officer: Final checks for accuracy of technical translations into Spanish.
Background   |   Purpose   |   Scope   |   Rules regarding Contributions

Background: The goal of the Regional Chronic Disease Prevention and Control Program is to prevent and reduce the burden of chronic diseases and related risk factors in the Americas. Its general objective is to decrease the current death rates by 2% per year over current trends, which will save over three million lives over the next ten years. Specific objectives include improving national capacity so that, by 2010, at least 90% countries have budget line items for chronic disease prevention and control; decreasing tobacco use; slowing the rise in the obesity epidemic; and in 75% of member states, collecting and using population-based information on major risk factors, e.g. diet, physical activity, alcohol and tobacco. The Program's communication strategy intends to reach policy-makers, program managers, health professionals, and key partners in chronic disease prevention, i.e. the participants in CARMEN * as well as the public at large and people at risk of or who have a chronic disease.

Purpose of the Newsletter: To share information between countries, within PAHO and with key partners; to promote the Regional Strategy on an Integrated Approach to the Prevention and Control of Chronic Diseases Including Diet, Physical Activity, and Health; to share developments on all aspects of the strategy, and the four lines of action (surveillance & response, advocacy & policy, health promotion & disease prevention, and integrated management of chronic diseases & risk factors) as well as news on program implementation.

Scope of the Newsletter: The newsletter can include items of interest in the following areas related to chronic disease surveillance, prevention, and management, including their risk factors:

  • National, subregional or regional events or developments in chronic disease and risk-factor prevention and control.
  • Country activities
    • New surveillance findings, analyses, studies, trends.
    • Prevention initiatives and campaigns.
    • Policy developments in health or broader healthy public policies of relevance.
    • Launch of strategies, plans.
  • New Partnerships or grants.
  • Major workshops, conferences or training events.
  • New information resources or links.

Please cite source and/or links if the informacioón comes is from a national agency; for country news, provide authorization in the form of an e-mail if your information comes from the corresponding Ministry or NGO. Merely citing links requires no authorization, though if you paraphrase or summarize any content you do need to mention the source.

Rules regarding Contributions

  • Length: Each contribution should be no longer than one page. However, longer items could be used for Special Issues focusing on specific topics. These might include the following:
    • Case studies.
    • New surveillance findings.
    • Country/subregional based activities.
    • Activities based on a theme or line of action.
    • Policy-based activities or packages.
    • Public information, e.g. nutritional guidelines or disease management.
  • Language: The contribution can be in any of the four official PAHO languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese, French), though the newsletter will only be published in English and Spanish.
  • Send your contribution in an e-mail message or MS Word document to
    Dr. James Hospedales (hospedaj@paho.org), with copy to Pilar Fano (fanopili@paho.org) and Suzanna Stephens (stephens@paho.org).
  • Deadline for submission: The period for accepting contributions is between the 1st to the 15th of a given month and will appear at the end of that month. Anything received after the 15th will appear in the next month's issue. This deadline will be strictly enforced, with no exceptions.

CARMEN (Conjunto de Acciones para la Reducción y el Manejo de Enfermedades No Transmisibles), is the Regional Network of countries, PAHO, and partners, which aims develop and move the agenda for integrated chronic disease prevention and control in the Americas, pooling all the necessary dimensions and strategies to support the achievement of the goals and objectives of the Regional Strategy on an Integrated Approach to the Prevention and Control of Chronic Diseases Including Diet, Physical Activity, and Health.