The proposed Sustainable Health Agenda for the Americas 2018-2030 (SHAA2030) was the focus of a third meeting of the 16-member Countries Working Group (CWG), convened by PAHO in Barbados last week.
"It was a very challenging process to draft this visionary document," said the Barbados Minister of Health, John Boyce, whose country has served as Vice Chair of the CWG. "It represents our shared vision for health and well-being of the countries of the Americas and appropriately responds to and complements our global, sub-regional and national health mandates which aim to achieve sustainable health development."
CWG Member State representatives met to conduct an in-depth review of all 11 goals and more than 50 targets contained in the SHAA2030 document. The Agenda is being finalized by the CWG in consultation with all PAHO Member States for presentation to the 29th Pan American Sanitary Conference (PASC) in September.
The Agenda is expected to be approved by PASC delegates, making it the highest-level strategic planning and policy framework for collective actions to achieve the highest attainable standard of health throughout the hemisphere by 2030. Its goals and targets are largely focused on attaining universal health in support of that vision.
The SHAA2030 will be operationalized through PAHO's strategic plans and strategies, as well as through subregional and national health plans. Two previous face-to-face meetings were held: in Panama in December 2016 and Ecuador in March 2017.
