Participate in a press conference announcing the recent declaration by an international expert committee that the Americas have successfully eliminated rubella and congenital rubella syndrome (CRS). Experts from the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the UN Foundation will explain the significance of the achievement and describe the Pan American immunization efforts that made it possible.
What: A press conference announcing the recent declaration by an international expert committee that the Americas have successfully eliminated rubella and congenital rubella syndrome (CRS). Experts from the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the UN Foundation will explain the significance of the achievement and describe the Pan American immunization efforts that made it possible.
When: Wednesday, 29 April 2015
TIME: 11:00 am Washington, DC
12:00 pm Buenos Aires, Argentina
10:00 am Quito, Ecuador
Where: Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) headquarters, 525 23rd St. N.W., corner of Virginia Ave., N.W., near the State Department. Room B
or VIRTUAL: LIVESTREAM
Follow this link or copy and paste it in a new browser:
English: www.livestream.com/paho
Español: www.livestream.com/opsenvivo
You can send your questions through the chat.
Who: Dr. Carissa F. Etienne, Director, PAHO/WHO
Dr. Cuauhtemoc Ruiz, Chief, PAHO/WHO Immunization Unit
Dr. Susan E. Reef, Team Leader for Rubella, Global Immunization Division, U.S. CDC
Dr. Andrea Gay, Executive Director Children's Health, UN Foundation
Q&A after the briefing.
Context: Rubella is a viral disease that causes mild symptoms in children and adults but can cause multiple birth defects or fetal death if contracted early in pregnancy. An international committee recently declared the Americas free of endemic transmission of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome (CRS). Rubella and CRS are now the third and fourth diseases to be eliminated in the region, following smallpox in 1971 and polio in 1994. In all four cases, the Americas region was the first in the world to eliminate these diseases, thanks to mass immunization efforts coordinated by PAHO/WHO in partnership with ministries of health and with support from CDC, UNICEF, and others.
Links
— Rubella (PAHO health topics)
— Vaccination Week in the Americas
— https://www.facebook.com/PAHOWHO
— https://www.youtube.com/pahopin
— https://twitter.com/pahowho #ByeByeRubella #GetVax
