The Executive Committee of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) concluded a week of deliberations today by advancing a series of strategies, plans of action, and policies on major health challenges facing PAHO member countries in the Americas.
Washington, D.C., 24 June 2016 (PAHO/WHO) — The Executive Committee of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) concluded a week of deliberations today by advancing a series of strategies, plans of action, and policies on major health challenges facing PAHO member countries in the Americas.
Among the initiatives debated and approved by the 158th Executive Committee were a regional Strategy for Arboviral Disease Prevention and Control, and plans of action for eliminating malaria and neglected infectious diseases, reducing disaster risks, and preventing and controlling HIV. The committee's approval of these and other initiatives means they will form the agenda of the 55th PAHO Directing Council, a larger PAHO governing body that will meet at PAHO headquarters on 26-30 September 2016.
This week's Executive Committee meeting also discussed policy documents and reports on issues including the health of migrants, resilient health systems, and implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR), a set of agreed international principles and procedures that govern how PAHO and WHO member countries report and respond to health events of potential international concern.
Members of the Executive Committee were also given an update by PAHO technical staff on the Zika epidemic in the Americas and PAHO's role in providing technical cooperation to affected countries and in coordinating the regional response.
PAHO Director Carissa F. Etienne welcomed the Executive Committee's agreements to advance the various agenda items for the consideration of the Directing Council and noted that several of the items are especially relevant in the context of the Zika epidemic.
"As with Ebola, the Zika epidemic has demonstrated the vital importance of strong, resilient, adequately funded and resourced health systems that facilitate equitable access to health services, including comprehensive reproductive health services," said Etienne, adding, "Zika has again demonstrated the value of the International Health Regulations and the need for countries to be fully compliant with the core capacities."
The Executive Committee is responsible for developing and approving the agenda for the PAHO Directing Council, which brings ministers of health and other high-level delegates to Washington each year to debate and set regional health priorities. The Executive Committee is composed of nine PAHO Member States elected by the PAHO Directing Council or the Pan American Sanitary Conference for overlapping periods of three years. The members of the 158th Executive Committee are Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States, with Ecuador's minister of health serving as chair.
