Celebrating 120 Years of Solidarity in Advancing Health and Well-Being, Leaving No One Behind
On 2 December 2022, the Pan American Health Organization will celebrate 120 years of active work in the public health arena of the Americas, collaborating with and supporting the countries of the Region to improve the health and well-being of their populations. Featuring photography from the vast PAHO collection, this exhibit explores some highlights of PAHO's work and milestones from recent years.
© PAHO/WHO Colombia | 2021. Promoting biosecurity measures and vaccination against COVID-19 and other diseases. PHOTO: Karen González Abril.
PRO SALUTE NOVI MUNDI
On December 2nd, 1902, representatives of countries of the Americas gathered in Washington, D.C., to organize a united front against the spread of pestilence and disease that engulfed the Region at the turn of the last century. Their determination—both visionary and pragmatic—gave birth to what was to become the oldest, continuously functioning international health agency in the world, the Pan American Sanitary Bureau.
Since its founding the Bureau, which shortly before mid-century became the Pan American Health Organization, Regional Office of the World Health Organization for the Americas, has been an agent in providing direct technical cooperation to prevent, control, and eradicate diseases and to promote health; in stimulating research; in educating and training health workers; and in informing professional and the populace about the scientific, technical, and social aspects of health.
© PAHO/WHO Colombia | 2021. Development of the COVID-19 vaccination plan within the framework of the COVAX program. PHOTO: Blink Media - Nadège Mazars.
Over time, the scope of the Organization’s work has widened: a focus on quarantinable diseases gave way to a primary care movement that crystallized the moral and political obligation of the countries to improve the health of all society, to narrow the gap between the health “haves” and the health “have nots.”
The history of PAHO is replete with heroes—men and women of vision, determination, knowledge, and dedication. Over the generations, they have formed a pageant of mostly nameless movers and shakers that have blazed a trail of progress toward health for all. Yet, in the end, it is the institution, the Pan American Health Organization—a coalition of countries representing some 30% of the earth’s land mass and some 14% of the world’s current population—that has made the difference. Evidence of that difference are the untold millions alive and healthy today, significant decreases in the population’s death rates and increases in their life expectancy, and the ongoing transformation of countries’ health services. These achievements have been wrought in large measure through the cooperation of the Governments of the Region and the Pan American Health Organization.
