2003: A Year of Public Health Challenges and Achievements
Washington, DC, December 31, 2003 (PAHO)—The year 2003 presented new challenges and achievements for public health. Once again, the most powerful weapon in the struggle against the threats to health was the joint action of the nations of the Americas.
As has been the case for more than 100 years, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) worked with all the nations in the hemisphere on issues such as vaccinations, negotiations to lower the price of drugs and rapid reactions to epidemiological alerts. All of these new networks and alliances have one goal: Health equity.
Argentine physician Dr. Mirta Roses Periago became PAHO's new director on January 31. She is the fourth Latin American to head the world's oldest international health agency. In her inaugural address, Roses emphasized her commitment to work in and with the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and to intensify contacts with communities and projects on the ground.
On March 12, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a worldwide alert to health professionals and travelers about a rapidly spreading new disease. It was "severe acute respiratory syndrome" (SARS), a viral respiratory illness, which within a short period of time spread to 30 nations, especially in Southeast Asia, and more than 3,000 cases were reported.
World reaction was immediate. To confront this "first disease of the 21st century," WHO and PAHO designed a wide-raging information network. Coordinated by WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a network of 13 laboratories in 10 countries identified the cause of the disease - a coronavirus - and designed efficient prevention and control measures.
Other public health challenges coordinated by PAHO also showed that joint action brings about better results. In February, negotiations between the Central American governments and five pharmaceutical firms resulted in cost reductions of historic proportions - by as much as 50 percent - in the prices of the drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS. Nine South American countries and Mexico followed that example four months later.
The first Vaccination Week in the Americas began in June and involved 19 countries of the region. During that time, some 16 million children - who either had not been vaccinated or whose vaccinations were not completed - were vaccinated. In 2004, all the Western Hemispheric nations will take part in this campaign.
In another development related to immunization, PAHO announced in September that, together with the CDC, it will seek to eradicate rubella (or German measles) and Congenital Rubella Syndrome from the Americas before 2010.
The message that violence is preventable was heard strongly this year. The health ministers of the Americas, based on WHO's World Report on Violence and Health, acknowledged that violence is a problem in the Americas (where more than 120,000 persons are killed each year) and outlined new strategies to deal with this problem from a public health vantage point.
On Dec 5, PAHO announced that Central America is now a region without cholera. The announcement coincided with the fifth anniversary of the Declaration of Costa del Sol. At that meeting in 1998, the Central American governments pledged to work jointly to prevent the resurgence of cholera in the wake of the devastation caused by killer hurricane Mitch that year.
The last alert of the year was the detection of a possible case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, in the United States. PAHO said that despite this outbreak, the safety status of meat in the Americas remains unchanged and presents no cause for alarm. This was one more example of issuing reliable health information to help set the public at ease.
There's still much to be done in different areas of public health. Issues range from attempts to eradicate the stigma and discrimination still suffered by people infected with HIV/ASIDS to improving the quality of the environment. In fact, the central theme of the 2003 Health in the Americas Week was children and the environment.
Another remaining challenge is to encourage the people of the Americas to become more active through more exercise to better prevent and control non-communicable diseases. Currently, only about 50 percent of the population does some kind of daily exercise.
All of these challenges know no borders. That is why a joint effort is essential to reach these goals. In that regard, this is PAHO's commitment:
- Complete the unfinished agenda, focusing on the health problems that still plague the Americas.
- Protect and preserve the achievements made in health: Wide coverage of vaccinations, eradication of diseases and others.
- Confront the new challenges. To reach the millennium's development goals, to renew primary care, to expand social protection and to strive for health equity.
PAHO was established in 1902 and is the world's oldest public health organization. PAHO works with all the countries of the Americas to improve the health and the quality of life of all people. It serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO).
PAHO Member States 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. Portugal and Spain are Observer States, and Puerto Rico is an Associate Member.
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