Dr. Jarbas Barbosa Da Silva Jr.
28 September 2022
Washington, D.C.
30th Pan American Sanitary Conference
74th Session of the WHO Regional Committee for the America
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. President.
First, I want also to say thank you to all the countries in the Region.
I want to thank all the countries that presented the candidates. I want to thank Panama,
Haiti, Mexico, Colombia, and Uruguay. I think that this is a clear demonstration about how the countries love this Organization, and respect this Organization. For the first time in our history, we have had five candidates (six candidates at the beginning), and this is a clear demonstration of the high interest the countries have to strengthen this Organization. I am very proud and very happy.
I am a public health worker and I want to thank not only the countries that supported me
that voted for me, but all the countries in this Region. We work together with you. It is not easy to follow Dr. Etienne’s leadership, but I do believe that we will use the same commitment to strengthen health, to strengthen the quality of life in our Region, we work together.
I am very proud. I believe that for any public health practitioner in our Region it is an
honor to hold the position of Director of a 120-year-old Organization that has such respect for its countries. My commitment is to continue to uphold this Organization's values: solidarity—the endeavor to have all countries working in a coordinated manner to improve the quality of life and health in our Region. I would also like to thank my own country for its support––and the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, who is here, and Ambassador Otávio Brandelli, for the support I received. I would also like to thank so many people who, from various countries in the Region, have sent me congratulations and who have asked how they could offer support––all of them public health workers. I understand, as they do, that the current situation is, in fact, very challenging for each and every country. It will also be a challenge for the Organization, in the five coming years, to implement all the lessons learned during the pandemic to strengthen each country, taking into account the interests and specific priorities of the countries of the Region.
But I am sure that with the support of all of you we will work in a very coordinated way to
achieve this.
Thank you very much again, and long live the Pan American Health Organization!
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