Palabras de apertura del Director en la 63.ª sesión del Consejo Directivo – 28 de septiembre de 2026
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Washington, DC Opening Remarks of the Director for 63rd Session of the Directing Council 28 September 2026 Honorable Mrs. Lisa Cummins, Minister of Health and Wellness of Barbados, Outgoing President of the Directing Council; Honorable Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), of the United States of America; Honorable Ambassador Steve Ferrol, Permanent Representative of Dominica and Chair of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States; Honorable Mr. Ilan Goldfajn, President of the Inter-American Development Bank; Distinguished Ministers of Health, Ambassadors, delegations, and colleagues, it is my honor to welcome you to the 63rd Session of the Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization. For more than 120 years, the Pan American Health Organization has worked with countries across the Americas to make yesterday's impossible the reality of today.
In public health, success is often measured by what does not happen. There may be no dramatic headlines, but a life may be saved, a family spared, and a community protected because a disease was prevented or an outbreak contained. Every day, PAHO supports countries in protecting and improving the health of their populations. Our Region continues to serve as a model for others worldwide. This afternoon, I’ll have the opportunity to share the Region's significant recent achievements with you. We are strengthening primary health care, improving vaccination, expanding digital health, preventing and controlling outbreaks, reducing deaths from chronic diseases, and advancing disease elimination. Yet the resurgence of measles reminds us that our work is far from finished. We must continue strengthening surveillance, vaccination, and outbreak response. We must also accelerate progress in maternal, newborn, child, and mental health, while strengthening preparedness for public health emergencies. At the same time, we must remain focused on advancing universal health and addressing critical challenges, including the persistent shortage of health workers throughout the Americas. This Directing Council provides a valuable opportunity to shape our collective response to these challenges and strengthen actions to improve health across the Region. Lasting public health progress is not delivered to countries. It is built with countries. And it starts here. Before turning to the substance of this meeting, I would like to draw Member States' attention to an issue that underpins everything we do: the financial sustainability of our Organization. Last year, we proposed, and our Member States approved, a 19% budget reduction. Despite prioritization efforts, cost-containment measures, and the strong mobilization of additional voluntary contributions, we still face a funding gap for our core programs. This is not simply a budgetary challenge. It affects our ability to provide technical cooperation, respond to emerging health threats, and sustain essential operations across the Region. For this reason, the timely and full payment of assessed contributions remains indispensable to ensuring that the Organization remains strong, responsive, and capable of delivering on its mandate. I would like to sincerely thank the 31 Member States that have already made full or partial payments in 2026 and respectfully invite all Member States to complete their contributions as soon as possible. I also want to thank our partners and donors for their fundamental support in advancing the priority agenda in our Region. Governments, philanthropies, and financial institutions have partnered with us around the priorities established by our member states. Our partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank is advancing the implementation of the Pan-American Highway for Digital Health (PH4H), which seeks to enhance digital collaboration, eliminate healthcare barriers, and provide seamless access to clinical information across borders. 13 countries in LAC are benefiting from the Alliance for Primary Health Care established by PAHO, the IDB and the World Bank. And these are a few of the many strong partnerships we have established in recent years. We continue to pursue more efficient ways to deliver our technical cooperation by expanding the use of virtual platforms, streamlining internal processes, and strengthening transparency and accountability through the publication of internal audit reports, external evaluations, and their implementation plans. These measures reflect our commitment to using resources effectively and responsibly. We remain accountable for every penny entrusted to us by Member States and partners in support of work that saves lives and improves health across the Region. A strong and sustainable Organization is not an end in itself. It is the foundation that enables us to support countries, respond to emerging challenges, strengthen health systems, and improve health outcomes for all people of the Americas. As we look to the future, evidence must remain at the center of our decisions. It is therefore my privilege to launch the latest Health in the Americas, PAHO's flagship publication since 1954. The new edition asks a fundamental question: where can we achieve the greatest gains in health? Nearly 40% of the Region's disease burden is potentially avertable. Much of it is linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney disease, maternal and neonatal disorders, violence and injuries, substance use disorders, and respiratory infections, including tuberculosis. We know what works. The challenge is turning evidence into action. The report highlights five key capacities for success: strategic leadership, data-driven decision-making, strong partnerships, aligned financing and regulation, and accountability. I encourage you to explore the report through the QR code on your tables and visit the Health in the Americas stand during the week. Let me now switch to Spanish. Quiero presentarles ahora la agenda de este Consejo Directivo, con temas clave para avanzar en las prioridades de salud de la Región.
Los Fondos Regionales Rotatorios de la OPS contribuyen a la implementación de las prioridades regionales en salud pública, como la eliminación de enfermedades. Los países pueden acceder a las nuevas tecnologías en vacunas, medicamentos y medios de diagnóstico a precios asequibles. Por ejemplo, para la eliminación del cáncer cervicouterino, los países tienen acceso a vacunas, a pruebas moleculares de VPH y a equipos para tratar las lesiones en la atención primaria. Los Fondos Rotatorios posibilitan el acceso acelerado a las innovaciones y contribuyen a fortalecer la producción regional de tecnologías sanitarias.
Quiero también invitarlos a participar en las cuatro sesiones informativas programadas para esta semana, en las que abordaremos temas clave para el futuro de la salud en las Américas: transformación digital, atención primaria de la salud, eliminación de enfermedades y gobernanza global de la salud. Los invito a visitar las muestras de diversas iniciativas y oportunidades de cooperación técnica sobre mortalidad materna, la iniciativa HEARTS, telesalud y telemedicina, el Campus Virtual, el uso de evidencias científicas y muchas otras. Y, por supuesto, la Secretaría estará disponible para atender sus preguntas y comentarios. Para terminar, quisiera recordar que esta Organización nació de una idea poderosa: el panamericanismo. La convicción de que somos más fuertes cuando trabajamos juntos y más eficaces cuando avanzamos con un propósito común. Las Américas deben seguir liderando la innovación en salud pública y contribuir activamente a definir la agenda mundial de salud. La OPS está aquí para caminar a su lado, pero también para desafiarlos. Porque hacer posible lo que hoy parece imposible exige pensar de manera diferente, innovar y adaptar nuestras respuestas a nuevas realidades. Nuestro papel es impulsar nuevas ideas y estrategias, compartir las mejores experiencias y ayudar a los países a convertir la innovación en mejores resultados en salud. Y si algo nos ha enseñado la historia de la salud pública en las Américas es que, cuando trabajamos juntos, podemos convertir en realidad lo que hoy parece imposible. Muchas gracias, thank you, muito obrigado and merci beaucoup.Dr. Jarbas Barbosa |