PAHO plans and implements its work through Biennial Work Plans (BWP), which are identified within the framework of the PAHO Strategic Plan and Program and Budget. Canada actively participated in the development of PAHO Strategic Plan 2020-2025 “Equity at the Heart of Health" and to the PAHO Program and Budget for the 2022-2023 biennium.
PAHO’s Canada BWP for 2022-2023 consists of two areas of work that have been identified as key priorities for the biennium.
- Climate Change and Health. PAHO recognizes that climate change poses significant risks to health and well-being and requires concerted efforts by health authorities and other stakeholders to create climate-resilient health systems that can anticipate, prepare, prevent, respond and quickly recover from climate risks. At the same time, Climate change is affecting Canada. Extreme weather events, such as wildfires and floods, underline the need for Canadians to better adapt and build resilience to climate change. This biennium, Canada and PAHO will be working together to support and strengthen the work to address climate change in the region of the Americas. For more information on the work done on climate change in Canada please click here. For more information on the work of PAHO in Climate Change, please click here.
- Strengthening regional regulatory capacity. National regulatory authorities protect the safety, quality, and efficacy of medicines and other health technologies, and play a crucial role in determining the pace at which new products are introduced. The long-standing collaboration with Canada in this area has been key to the strengthening of regulatory capacities in the Region, and at the global level. By adopting a leadership role in this area, Health Canada has committed, together with PAHO, to supporting National Regulatory Authority of Regional Reference (NRAr) in the implementation of a WHO global benchmarking tool to promote good regulatory practices, sharing of experiences and learning from each other. Specifically, this project seeks to strengthen national regulatory systems in the Region, through the creation of technical training mechanisms and technical and scientific exchanges among the national regulatory authorities of the Region.