PAHO Launches ‘El Niño and Health’ Community of Practice to Share Experiences Across the Americas

The experiences and initiatives collected will be compiled into a regional summary for presentation and discussion during a follow-up webinar later in 2026.

Washington, D.C., 4 August 2026 — The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is establishing an El Niño and Health Community of Practice to facilitate continued regional knowledge exchange and collaboration. Building on the webinar El Niño and Health in the Americas: Strengthening Preparedness and Anticipatory Action, held on 4 August 2026, this initiative will provide a space for countries and partners to share practical experiences in anticipating, preparing for, and responding to the public health impacts associated with El Niño.

What experiences is PAHO looking for?

Through this Community of Practice, PAHO invites national, subnational and local governments, civil society and private sector across the Americas to share their experiences, including successful practices, operational challenges, barriers encountered, solutions developed, and lessons learned to anticipate, better prepare and effectively protect and promote human health to the effects of El Niño.

The contributions will help strengthen collective knowledge and the development of synthesis documents, and to identify successful approaches that may be replicated, scaled up and financed throughout the Region.

Experiences do not need to represent completed or fully evaluated programs. We also encourage submissions describing ongoing initiatives, operational innovations, emerging practices, and challenges that may provide useful learning for others.

How will the contributions be used?

PAHO will review and synthesize the experiences received to identify common themes, practical lessons, implementation barriers, and promising approaches from across the Americas. The findings will be compiled into a regional summary for presentation and discussion during a follow-up webinar later in 2026.

The summary will also serve as a practical reference for countries, technical experts, and partner organizations working to strengthen climate-informed surveillance, preparedness, early warning systems, and anticipatory public health action. Selected experiences may be further developed into case studies, featured in future regional knowledge-exchange activities and potentially supported through technical activities and funding, in consultation with the submitting countries and institutions.

Share your experience

Countries, territories, and partner institutions are invited to submit their experiences through a short online survey. The submission survey will be available shortly. Please return to this page to share your experience.