Anticipation High in Brazil for Opening of World Congress of Epidemiology

Washington, D.C., September 16, 2008 (PAHO)—Officials from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) underscored the importance of Brazil serving for the first time as the venue for the World Congress of Epidemiology, which focuses on the role of epidemiology in meeting health challenges of the 21st Century.

(Photo by Sonia Mey-Schmidt/PAHO)

PAHO experts said the selection of a country from the Region of the Americas as the venue for this international gathering acknowledges PAHO's historical promotion of epidemiology in the Americas as a tool that enables public health professionals and decision-makers to respond more appropriately and effectively to major challenges and threats to public health in the 21st century.

Over 7,000 delegates and experts have already registered for the Congress, scheduled for 20 to 24 of September in Porto Alegre, which will take place at the same time as the VII Brazilian Congress of Epidemiology, held by the Brazilian Association of Public Health (ABRASCO).

This is a record number, which, according to the IEA, will make this the most well-attended Congress of Epidemiology that the Association has ever held. The theme of this year's Congress is Epidemiology in the Construction of Health for All: Tools for a Changing World.

The Congress will seek "to reflect epidemiology's role as the cornerstone and basic component in the construction of health--its role in the development, maintenance, and renewal of equitable health systems--and the essential tools that it offers for analyzing health and evaluating services," said Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, PAHO's Area Manager for Health Surveillance and Disease Prevention and Control. "The Congress will also focus on the challenges of the 21st century stemming from fundamental changes in the demographic, socioeconomic, environmental, and other contexts, with particular attention to the concept of equity."

PAHO Director Dr. Mirta Roses, an epidemiologist herself, heads the delegation from PAHO in Porto Alegre. Dr. Roses will describe the contributions of epidemiology to the regional and global health agenda. She also will serve on a panel with Dr. María Soledad Barria Iroume, Minister of Health of Chile and other experts to discuss the contributions of epidemiology to the organization of national health systems.

Dr. Roses will also chair a thematic session devoted specifically to PAHO cooperation in the development of epidemiology. The panels will take historical stock of these contributions, especially since 1983, when a seminar sponsored by PAHO was held in Buenos Aires that laid the foundations for the future development of epidemiological practice in the Americas.

In her preface to the 2007 edition of PAHO's key publication Health in the Americas, Dr. Roses wrote, "As a health agency, our core discipline is epidemiology, which enables us to measure, define, and compare health problems and conditions and their distribution from the perspectives of population, geography, and time." She added "that behind every number and every statistic …is the life of a girl, a boy, a woman, or a man living in some corner of the Region."

In addition to Dr. Roses, Dr. Jarbas Barbosa da Silva Jr., Area Manager for Health Surveillance and Disease Prevention and Control (HSD), Mr. Luiz Augusto Cassanha Galvão, Area Manager for Sustainable Development and Environmental Health (SDE), and other staff from PAHO Headquarters and its office in Brazil will participate with papers and presentations at the epidemiological gathering.

The Americas in a Global Context

In addition to becoming the center of global epidemiology for a few days, Porto Alegre joins a growing list of Latin American and Caribbean cities that this year, for the first time, are venues for the discussion of other critical global health issues. Mexico City hosted the XVII International Conference on AIDS; Mérida, also in Mexico, hosted the recent 9th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion. Montevideo will host the World Congress of the International Association for Suicide Prevention in October 2009. Buenos Aires, Argentina, was the site of the international summit "Buenos Aires 30/15: From Alma-Ata to the Millennium Declaration," with representatives from over 60 countries.

Link

• XVIII IEA World Congress of Epidemiology (Porto Alegre, Brazil)

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