Health Summit Meeting Starts Monday, Sept. 22
WHO: Health Ministers from all countries in the Americas gather in Washington Monday, Sept. 22 for the week-long annual meeting of the Directing Council, the policy-setting governing body of the Pan American Health Organization.
WHEN: The conference starts Monday, Sept. 22 at 9 a.m. and runs through Friday, Sept. 26.
WHERE: All meetings are at the headquarters of the Pan American Health Organization, 525 23rd. St., NW in Washington (Virginia Ave. at 23rd St., four blocks south of Foggy Bottom Metro).
WHAT: The Directing Council is the governing body of the Pan American Health Organization. Composed of Ministers of Health from all countries in the Americas, it meets annually to set health policies and receive new reports on the state of health in the Americas.
THEMES: The main agenda items for the Council include a report on health in the Americas, sustaining immunization programs and the elimination of Rubella, preparations for the influenza pandemic, dengue, the impact of violence on health, integrated management of childhood illness and the Millennium Development Goals, and other topics.
PAHO: PAHO, which also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization, has been working for more than 100 years with all the countries of the Americas to improve the health and raise the living standards of their peoples. Established in 1902, PAHO Member States today include all 35 countries in the Americas. France, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland are Participating States, and Portugal and Spain are Observer States. Puerto Rico is an Associate Member.
SCHEDULE: The council meeting starts at 9 a.m. Monday with welcoming remarks by PAHO Director Dr. Mirta Roses, and by Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G. Thomson.
A PRESS CONFERENCE: on a new plan to eliminate rubella by the year 2010 in the Americas is slated at 10 a.m. Monday, with Dr. Roses and Dr. Walter Orenstein, director of U.S. National Immunization Program at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The new director-general of the World Health Organization, Dr. LEE Jong-Wook, is slated to address health ministers Wednesday at 9 a.m. The meeting continues through Friday.
The full agenda of the meeting is at http://www.paho.org/english/gov/cd/cd44-wp1-e.pdf.
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