Advancing towards universal health in the Americas
My vision for the future of PAHO is to make it the leading Organization in supporting the countries of the Americas with the most innovative and efficient strategies to recover better than they were before, overcome inequalities, and build resilient health systems to improve the response to emergencies and disasters and to achieve universal health care.
To implement this vision, it must be PAHO's priority for the next five years to lead the Region and support the countries in five strategic pillars:
- Completion of pandemic control.
- Implementation of lessons learned during the pandemic.
- Recovery from the impacts of the pandemic on priority health programs, returning better than we were in 2019.
- Construction of resilient National Health Systems based on renewed and strengthened Primary Health Care.
- Permanent modernization and improvement of PAHO's management.
Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, a national of Brazil, was elected Director of the Pan American Health Organization by Member States during the 30th Pan American Sanitary Conference on 28 September 2022. Dr. Barbosa begins his five-year term on 1 February 2023, succeeding Dr. Carissa F. Etienne of Dominica, who led PAHO from 2012 to January of 2023.
From July 2017 until his appointment as Director, he served as PAHO Assistant Director, leading five technical departments and PAHO’s Revolving Fund – a special program to increase equitable access to vaccines in the region. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Barbosa led the Organization’s efforts to support Member States in reducing the impact of the emergency on priority public health programs. He also led the PAHO Task Force for COVID-19 Vaccination in the Americas and launched a platform to expand production of mRNA vaccines in Latin America and the Caribbean to reduce the region’s dependency on imports during future health emergencies.
Official portrait
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Link to the official photograph of Dr. Jarbas Barbosa
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Articles and Opinion pieces by Dr. Jarbas Barbosa
Malaria Day in the Americas: Eliminating neglected diseases can help us drive out poverty from the farthest corners of our region
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) gave new impetus to an initiative to eliminate 30 communicable diseases and related conditions from the region of the Americas. These diseases are mostly preventable, always treatable, and yet continue to plague millions.
Malaria, for example, is an illness that hides in the most difficult to access corners of the Americas. The disease is emblematic to many ailments under the PAHO initiative: a ramification of poverty and social inequity, disproportionally impacting communities far away from health services.
Countries in the region had already committed to the PAHO elimination initiative in 2019, but COVID-19 delayed our resolve. Now is time to get back on track.
Published in: El Universo, Ecuador, Diario de Centroamérica, Guatemala, El Heraldo, Honduras, La Prensa Gráfica, El Salvador, El Deber, Bolivia, El Universal, México, Dominica News Online, Dominica, Stabroek News, Guyana, La Prensa, Panamá, The Nation Newspaper, Barbados, Le Nouvelliste National, Haiti, Antigua Observer, Antigua, Últimas Noticias, Venezuela, The Gleaner, Jamaica, and Truly Caribbean, Montserrat.
News
17 Nov 2023
