PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre Spotlight Series
Reference Number: ARG-41
Official Title: PAHO/WHO CC for Bioethics
Institution: Programa de Bioética; Área Ética, Derechos y Bienes Públicos Globales, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales
Reference Number: CHI-21
Official Title: PAHO/WHO CC for Bioethics
Institution: Centro de Bioética Facultad de Medicina Clínica Alemana, Universidad del Desarrollo
Reference Number: CAN-58
Official Title: PAHO/WHO CC for Bioethics
Institution: Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto
Reference Number: USA-330
Official Title: PAHO/WHO CC for Ethics and Global Health Policy
Institution: Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami
Reference Number: USA-382*
Official Title: PAHO/WHO CC for Global Public Health Ethics
Institution: Center for the History and Ethics of Public Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
Category 4 (SP 14-19)
Outcome 22 (SP 20-25)
Dr. Carla Saenz, Regional Adivsor, Bioethics, is the PAHO staff member who acts as the Region’s focal point and also supports the WHO focal point to coordinate the collaboration between the institution and the Organization.
The main activities of these Centres include: (1) capacity building; (2) contributing to the development of normative guidance; and (3) strengthening research ethics and clinical ethics in Latin American and the Caribbean.
The Centre at the Universidad del Desarrollo organized training to conduct bioethics research to support capacity building for professionals from Latin America, including participants from Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and Paraguay. The Centre also assisted with reviewing the translation of documents into Spanish including Pautas de la OMS sobre la ética en la vigilancia de la salud pública.
The Centre at the University of Toronto assisted with planning and delivering a workshop titled “governance and ethical decision-making to advance health” that took place in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (2019). The goal of the workshop was to raise awareness, build capacity and provide tools and frameworks surrounding public health ethics.
The Center at the Mailman School of Public Health and PAHO staff collaborated on the development of the WHO guidelines on ethical issues in public health surveillance, in which the co-director of the Centre co-chaired the publication. The Centre and PAHO staff have also worked together on the dissemination of these guidelines through web-based platforms.
Currently, the Collaborating Centre at the Miller School of Medicine works mainly with WHO and there are no deliverables to report within the Region.
Webnotes such as these serve to inform how Collaborating Centres are contributing to the Organization’s priorities and mandates.
* Subsequent to this summary, this Centre has expired.