Regional Stories
August 2025For years, maternal healthcare in Guyana relied on paper-based records, which made tracking patient histories challenging. Today, with the implementation of PAHO’s Perinatal Information System (SIP Plus), healthcare teams are able to access real-time health records that include comprehensive data from a mother’s first prenatal visit…
August 2025When Resa Eustace, a registered nurse and certified midwife from St. Vincent and the Grenadines welcomed her first child, she chose to breastfeed and thought that it would be simple. But the first days of feeding her newborn became some of the most challenging moments of her life.“I thought that breastfeeding was just taking my breast,…
Belize’s health sector is undergoing a transformative shift, thanks to a major partnership with the European Union (EU) through the Health Sector Support Programme (HSSP) implemented by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) since 2018. This initiative, among others, focuses on providing vital upgrades to the country’s health facilities,…
Yosselin lives in the neighborhood of Villa Primero de Mayo in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. She is pregnant and carries her pregnancy with pride, but also with worry. The sun no longer warms; it punishes. And the heat no longer waits for summer. It sets in from spring and permeates homes and bodies.— July 2025 —"In the afternoons, I…
How Honduras reduced maternal mortality by over 27% with a life-saving alert systemIn October 2023, three women lost their lives within less than 72 hours of each other at the Gabriela Alvarado Hospital in Danlí, located 92 kilometers south of Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. While another 15 mothers were being rushed in with uncontrollable…
July 2025Joaquina Portillo is an indigenous elderly resident from the rural community of Rio Verde, Department of Canindeyú, Northeast Paraguay. She recently attended an outpatient care day hosted in her community and was very pleased with the comprehensive care that she and her family received.…
July 2025When three monkeys (a howler, a white-faced monkey, and a spider monkey) were found dead in a forested area of Colombia’s Putumayo department, what might have previously gone unnoticed became an early warning sign that triggered a swift, coordinated response to contain a yellow fever outbreak. This time, the difference was knowledge."…
June 2025“Ensuring that diagnosis and treatment is available for all is key to reach and maintain zero malaria,” said Dr. Marthelise Eersel, who leads Suriname’s Malaria Program. This year, Suriname became the first country in the Amazon region to receive malaria-free certification from the World Health Organization (WHO).For Dr. Eersel, training…
