About CLAP

The Latin American Center for Perinatology / Women's Health and Reproductive Health (CLAP/WR) of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) provides technical cooperation of excellence to promote, strengthen and improve health care for women, mothers and newborns in the countries of the Region of the Americas. It was created in 1970 in Montevideo and currently is part of the Health Systems and Services Department.

With a rights perspective, the Center’s actions are based on a strategy that includes comprehensive approaches within the framework of health programs with universal coverage and inclusive systems, which recognize links between health and gender, and social determinants such as poverty and education.

Its working areas are framed within several goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3, such as reducing the maternal mortality rate, reducing neonatal mortality and premature mortality due to non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment.  It also seeks to guarantee universal access to sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programs.