Gina Tambini

Gina Tambini has served as PAHO area manager for Family and Community Health since 2003. She oversees five technical units as well as the Latin American Center for Perinatology, Women and Reproductive Health in Uruguay and the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute in Jamaica and Trinidad. She manages a staff of more than 60 working in the areas of child and adolescent health, nutrition, immunizations, HIV/AIDS, and women's health. Tambini received her medical degree from the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia and did postdoctoral studies in pediatric infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins University. She spent seven months in the Apache and Navajo Indian reservations in Arizona, USA, participating in clinical studies of vaccines andoral rehydration therapy. From 1999 to 2002, she served as coordinator of PAHO's Expanded Program on Immunization, which led measles eradication efforts in the Americas and helped reduce the number of recorded measles cases to a record low in 2001.

What were the formative experiences of your childhood?
I was born in Huancayo, in the central mountains of Peru. I'm the oldest of four siblings, and the only female. When I was 6, my father was appointed as a judge, and our family moved to Lima. It was a big move to go from the mountains to the capital. We were lucky to grow up in an environment with a lot of love and affection, with parents who were very responsible about our development from childhood through our professional training. Not just my parents, but the whole family. Responsibilityand discipline are values that influenced my development. They're values that I've learned from my parents, my teachers, and my family in general.

What steered you toward public health?
I always liked science, mathematics, and literature. When I finished secondary school, I decided that my vocation was to serve humanity. And that's how I chose to pursue a career in medicine, which I studied at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima. My first project as a doctor was in a rural area, working in the central jungle with native communities, in a project called "Microcomputers for Primary HealthCare," run by the Von Humboldt Tropical Medicine Institute and Johns Hopkins University. During my rural service, I worked in the San Pablo de Loreto Hospital, which used to be a leprosy colony in the Peruvian Amazon.

Tell us about your earlier work with indigenous peoples.
I worked with indigenous communities in the Amazon in my country,Peru,while I was studying at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia. Later I worked with members of the Apache and Navajo nations in White River and Chinle, Arizona, in a project with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. In both cases, I was doing research in the areas of anthropometric studies of children, microcomputers in primary health care, trials of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine, and oral rehydration. In both cases, I was fortunate to get to know the communities well and to have the support of excellent mentors. On a personal level, I found notable similarities between the two native cultures. For example, their respect for nature as the source of resources, particularly land and animals, and the roles people play in their families and the community. And there are physiognomic, or physical, similarities. Sometimes elders would speak to me in their language, which was embarrassing because they thought I was a young woman who did not know her mother tongue. The natural beauty of Arizona and the majestic green of the Amazon river are unforgettable to me even after nearly 20 years. I have so many wonderful memories of the people, the music, the dances, their dress—it's all so fresh in my mind. The opportunity to live with native communities in both countries, to enjoy their culture and their landscapes, and the privilege of working with them were all a blessing.

How did you become involved with PAHO?
I've always had great admiration for the Pan American Health Organization. Throughout my professional development, it was an institution that was highly regarded and served as a point of reference. I developed a special interest in PAHO's work and its mandate for the Americas. Then in 1989, I had the opportunity to join a PAHO immunization team in El Salvador. I was there nearly two years. After that, I worked seven years in PAHO's Colombia office, then was transferred to Washington in 1998. For the first four years, I worked with PAHO's immunization team, which—under the leadership of Ciro de Quadros—was responsible for all the actions that helped strengthen the National Immunization Programs and led to the eradication of polio and the interruption of wild measles virus in the Americas.

What was it like working with De Quadros and his team?
I worked more than 13 years with the vaccines and immunization team at PAHO. Ciro de Quadros was head of the program at the time, and he had a very capable team working under him. I learned a great deal from the team. It's a period when I learned important lessons about a number of things, especially about the importance of being visionary and strategic. De Quadros and his team were able to identify achievable public health goals and used strategies and tactics that brought together the work of all the countries and agencies in a very effective and collaborative way.TheTechnical Advisory Group led by D.A. Henderson and supported by a group of highly respected experts played an important role in steering the Regional Immunization Program.

What do you see as the most important part of PAHO's work in the Americas?
Advocating for health as a human right, striving to reduce inequities, and responding to country needs. In our work at PAHO, it is very important to define priorities like those we have chosen and to combine all our efforts in a common pursuit of regional goals, in association with the countries, PAHO, civil society, and other partners. We have to be very demanding of ourselves and of our teams in this process if we want to produce results.

Do you see a lot of progress by women in entering leadership positions?
Absolutely. I'm very happy that this year, leadership and empowerment of women was chosen as the theme of the International Day of Women. We can advance a great deal in all areas of action, including health. The fact that PAHO is for the first time under a woman's leadership, the fact that there are female ministers of health, and now in Chile, with the election, a woman has become president—these are concrete examples of women who, in addition to their professional roles, have also developed as mothers, wives, and daughters. I believe there will be more and more women in leadership at the managerial and executive levels. As women, we have to give our best to strengthen leadership in our countries and in the rest of the world.

What are your biggest challenges as an area manager?
Our primary focus is on helping PAHO member countries reach the Millennium Development Goals that are within the scope of Family and Community Health. We have excellent teams in our technical units and centers that are providing effective technical cooperation to countries and subregions. The key challenges for me as a manager are to provide the necessary support to each team to enable them to give the best of their work, expertise, and experiences, and to promote links among the teams to strengthen their technical cooperation in the countries. Also, working together—across work areas—is extremely important, so that we complement each other and have a greater effect. Since its formation, Family and Community Health has been promoting meetings and other opportunities to encourage inter-programmatic work.

What is the best way to maximize PAHO's work with its member countries?
We have a strategic plan as a framework. The countries are carrying out common country assessments as part of the Country Cooperation Strategy, which identifies priorities, needs, and strengths to make our work more efficient. The process of mapping personnel and evaluating existing areas of competence will help us develop the necessary capacity at the country,subregional, and regional levels. I think we have come a long way,and PAHO has played an important leadership role. We have a vision, and our priority is to make sure that our actions reach the most vulnerable populations and the poorest countries.