Building resilient health systems in the Region of the Americas.
PAHO and US CDC work together to build regional capacities to address public health challenges.
For more than 20 years, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have shared the goals of saving lives and protecting the people of the Region from health threats while using evidence and data for better decisions to address priority public health challenges.
The CDC is the leading data-driven public health service organization in the United States and the largest government agency worldwide working in disease control and prevention. It generates strategic information and puts science and advanced technology into action to protect the public’s health, safety, and security. The CDC works in more than sixty countries, collaborating with ministries of health and other partners to prevent diseases, build resilience to emergencies, and respond quickly on the front lines where outbreaks occur. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and has experts located throughout the United States and the world.
With nearly 80 years of experience, CDC has long been actively engaged with PAHO, providing financial support and technical collaboration in key areas of public health to build regional capacities, protect people from health threats, and address public health challenges in the Americas.
Continuous support to strengthen health systems and better respond to health threats
The CDC has been a critical strategic partner of PAHO and is one of the major contributors to strengthening public health systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. The long-standing collaboration has been formalized through several multi-year Cooperative Agreements that have led to substantial achievements.
PAHO collaborates with CDC on multiple technical programs through direct engagement with various centers, institutes, and offices across the Agency. Also, the Organization receives critical financial support in priority areas of operation. The CDC's deep involvement extends beyond routine monitoring of project implementation and focuses on mutual support and constructive collaboration for the benefit of the people of the Americas. This collaborative effort has provided a platform to share knowledge and expertise at the regional, subregional, and country levels.
Acknowledged as a strategic partner in PAHO’s annual and multiannual plans, CDC collaborates with PAHO at the regional level and in multiple Latin America and the Caribbean countries. Also, CDC supports the ministries of health of several countries in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean through its five Country Offices and one Regional Office. Across all venues, CDC puts its extensive technical resources and expertise to the service of local governments to build country-level capacities on numerous public health topics.
PAHO and CDC continue to work together to strengthen national immunization programs. The collaboration focuses on reducing the number of children who have never received a single vaccine dose, improving epidemiological and laboratory surveillance, protecting and maintaining the elimination targets set against polio, rubella, measles, CRS, hepatitis B, and neonatal tetanus, developing greater in-country capacity to respond to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, expanding vaccination services across all stages of the life course, strengthening immunization information systems, implementing a regional AEFI surveillance system, and implementing evaluations of the national immunization programs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CDC funds were essential to maintain these core functions and allow persons of all ages to continue receiving life-saving vaccines.
Given its public health expertise, extensive knowledge of health systems, and networks of subject-matter experts throughout the world, the CDC is an exceptional partner for PAHO. Its ongoing technical and financial partnership contributes to positive health outcomes in the Americas. The Agency’s commitment to the countries of the Region and willingness to share its knowledge and resources has made it possible to provide technical support to countries beyond a single organization’s capacity.
Publications
Joint publications
- Seasonal influenza vaccination in the Americas: Progress and challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Estimating the future global dose demand for measles-rubella microarray patches
- Influenza Incidence and Vaccine Effectiveness During the Southern Hemisphere Influenza Season — Chile, 2022
- Severity of influenza illness by seasonal influenza vaccination status among hospitalised patients in four South American countries, 2013-19: a surveillance-based cohort study
- Genome Sequences of 16 Enterovirus Isolates from Environmental Sewage in Guatemala, 2019 to 2021
- Aetiology and incidence of diarrhoea requiring hospitalisation in children under 5 years of age in 28 low-income and middle-income countries: findings from the Global Pediatric Diarrhea Surveillance network
- Incidence of respiratory virus illness and hospitalizations in a Panama and El Salvador birth cohort, 2014-2018