http://www.paho.org/ The latest public health news from the Pan American Health Organization. en-us Copyright 2005 PAHO/WHO. All Rights Reserved. http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr080626.htmA new safety checklist for surgical procedures developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) won the endorsements of nearly 250 health organizations from over 40 countries at a launching event yesterday at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in Washington, D.C.http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr080620.htmThe World Health Organization (WHO) will launch its new global initiative "Safe Surgery Saves Lives," aimed at improving the safety of surgery in countries around the world, on June 25, 2008, 11:45 a.m. to 2:45 p.m., at PAHO headquarters in Washington, D.C. http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr080425.htmRegional objective: Vaccinate 62 million people
With a spirit of integration and Pan-Americanism, health authorities carried out launches and immunization activities in all countries and territories of the Americas this week, working to vaccinate 62 million children, young people and adults throughout the Region, including indigenous populations in border areas.http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr080404.htmThe effects of global climate change on human health and the need for action to prevent adverse impacts will be the focus of World Health Day 2008, which this year marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO).http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/ePersp001_article01.htmChronic diseases used to be considered "diseases of the rich," but today developing countries are facing a tsunami of deaths and illness due to cancer, heart disease, stroke and diabetes. The good news, says an article in PAHO's e-zine Perspectives in Health, is that most of it can be prevented.http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr080211.htmYellow fever is a zoonosis of the tropical regions of South America and Africa, which occurs in two distinct epidemiologic cycles: jungle and urban. In the jungle cycle, the virus spreads among monkeys and humans, who may be infected when they enter the jungle and are bitten by mosquitoes infected with the yellow fever virus. Urban yellow fever has long been eradicated from the Americas, with the last cases occurring in Brazil in 1942.http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr080207.htmPAHO Director Dr. Mirta Roses passionately affirmed today the critical importance of health research, particularly with regards to making sure that scientific knowledge and breakthroughs thanks to research development can truly and effectively be translated to the benefit of all peoples, both in developed as well as in developing countries alike.http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr061121.htmSinger Jerry Rivera today joined forces with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to launch a new public service campaign to raise awareness of violence against women and of the need to end the widespread problem in the Americas and around the world.http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr060808.htmOn the International Day of the World's Indigenous People observed today, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) experts noted that 40 percent of indigenous people in the Americas still lack access to conventional health care services. Coupled with serious issues of inequity and discrimination, this situation poses a serious obstacle in achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals.http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr060731.htmCountries throughout the Americas are joining together to observe World Breastfeeding Week. The week of August 1-7 has the theme, "Code Watch: 25 Years of Protecting Breastfeeding," highlighting the importance of national enforceable legislation on the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr051209.htmThe number of people with mental disorders in the Region of the Americas is forecast to increase from 114 million in 1990 to 176 million in 2010, according to the director of the Pan American Health Organization, Dr. Mirta Roses.http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr051209a.htmUrgent measures are needed across Latin America and the Caribbean to improve food safety and the availability of food, both to reduce the level of disease and death and also to make it easier to export the region's numerous food products to the rest of the world, 200 regional food-safety experts and regulators agreed today.http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr051128.htmSome of the world's top experts on alcohol abuse and public policy are gathered in Brazil this week to discuss ways of reducing the harmful effects of alcohol on public health in the Americas.http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr050927a.htmThree Latin American physicians, scholars and researchers were this year's recipients of Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and Pan American Health and Education Foundation (PAHEF) awards in the fields of medicine, health care and bioethics.