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PAHO NEWS: Press Releases, Job Vacancies, and Other
Information from the Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO) via the Canadian Society for International Health
(CSIH) http://www.csih.org; Technical Representative in
Canada for PAHO
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PAHO Vacancy Notices
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Post Title: Administrative Officer; Level: P.2; Post Number: 4.6141; Issue
Date: 7 May 1999; Closing Date: 18 June 1999; Duty Station: Washington, D.C.;
Tenure: Two years, first year probationary; Division/Program/Office: Health
and Human Development (HDP)
Salary Information: Basic Salary: $35,598 at single rate; Post Adjustment:
$5,873 at single rate.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: Education: A bachelor's degree from an accredited
university in business, public administration, finance, economics, or a
related field. An advanced degree in a management or financial related
discipline would be an asset. Experience: Five years of professional
experience in general administration, including supervisory responsibilities
in personnel, budget, finance, procurement and/or general services, or three
years of experience in managerial positions responsible for the
administrative services of large institutions. Knowledge of office
automation software packages and information systems including LAN-based,
multi-user computer and database projects would be an asset. Languages: Very
good knowledge of English and Spanish.
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Post Title: Procurement Officer; Level: P.1; Post Number: .4208; Issue Date:
14 May 1999; Closing Date: 25 June 1999; Duty Station: Washington, D.C.;
Tenure: Two years, first year probationary Division/Program/Office:
Department of General Services (AGS)
Salary Information: Basic Salary: $28,341 at single rate; Post Adjustment:
$5,158 at single rate.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: Education: A bachelor's degree from a recognized
university in one of the life sciences. A degree in chemistry or pharmacy
would be an asset. Experience: Three years of experience in purchasing
pharmaceuticals, biological products or services in a purchasing office of an
international organization, government agency or commercial enterprise.
Languages: Very good knowledge of English and Spanish. Knowledge of
Portuguese or French would be an asset.
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For more information, please contact the Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO) / World Health Organization (WHO), 525 Twenty-Third Street, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20037 USA Fax (202) 974-3379 Telephone (202) 974-3396
Vacancy Hotline: (202) 974-3333 http://www.paho.org
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WHO Press Releases
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INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY CALLS ON WHO DIRECTOR-GENERAL
TO LEAD THE FINAL ASSAULT ON POLIO / 52nd WORLD HEALTH
ASSEMBLY: MAY 17-25, 1999
The international call to accelerate the eradication effort came at an
extraordinary meeting of governments of key polio-endemic and donor countries
on the opening day of Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland's first World Health Assembly
(WHA) since taking office. Dr Brundtland called the meeting to establish
even closer coordination between key players for the 'home stretch'.
Rotary International, UNICEF, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(USA), and the governments of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Italy,
Japan, the Netherlands, UK and USA were among donors present to discuss
funding requirements, calculated to total US$ 500 million.
WHO is spearheading the international effort to eradicate polio by the end of
the year 2000. As a result of mass immunization campaigns that reach
hundreds of millions of children each year, the number of cases worldwide has
fallen by 85 percent in ten years -- from 35,000 in 1988 to 5,673 in 1998.
Just a few vaccine drops guarantee a child life-long protection against the
disease. In 1991, the last case in the western hemisphere was found in Peru.
In 1997, the last case in the WHO Western Pacific region that includes China
was found in Cambodia.
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CLOSER COOPERATION THE WAY TO BETTER HEALTH - GRO HARLEM
BRUNDTLAND
The World Health Organization will work closely with Member States and other
UN organizations to substantially improve the health conditions of the
world's poorest.
A key factor in WHO's new priority-setting is to emphasize the economic
benefits from improved health and the need for cost-effective, equitable
health systems.
"A five year difference in life expectancy may yield an extra annual growth
of 0.5 per cent. It is a powerful boost to economic growth," Dr Brundtland
said, reaffirming conclusions of the World Health Report, which she presented
to Assembly.
The World Health report is WHO's main annual publication. This year's report,
"Making a Difference", sets out a global health agenda for the coming decade.
It stresses a three-fold approach to achieving this: attacking the
"unfinished health agenda" of freeing the poor from the burden of infectious
diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS; preventing a wave of
non-communicable diseases from eating up the recent health gains in
developing and industrialized countries alike; and developing more equitable
and cost-effective health systems.
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NOVEL LAUREATE AMARTYA SEN: 'PENALTY OF INACTION CAN BE
ILLNESS AND DEATH'
Professor Sen, a scholar from India whose work produced a new understanding
of the catastrophes that plague society's poorest people, won the Nobel
Economics Prize last year for his contributions to welfare economics, which
help explain the economic mechanisms underlying famines and poverty. Sen
'restored an ethical dimension to the discussion of vital economic problems,'
the 1998 Nobel citation said.
"When it comes to health and survival, perhaps nothing is as immediately
important in many poor countries in the world today as the lack of medical
services and provisions of health care," Professor Sen said. Citing a recent
study called "Infections and Inequalities: The modern plagues," by Paul
Farmer, he said "a major difference can be brought about by a public
determination to do something about" pervasive deprivation of biomedical
services, both for easily treatable diseases like cholera and malaria and
more challenging ailment like AIDS and drug-resistant Tuberculosis.
"If the allocation of resources is systematically biased in the direction of
arms and armaments, rather than in the direction of health and education, the
remedy of that has to lie ultimately in informed public debate on these
issues, and ultimately on the role of the public in seeking a better deal for
the basic requirements of good living, rather than efficient killing,"
Professor Sen told the assembled delegates.
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ABORTION IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD
Out of nearly 50 million abortions performed in the world each year (30
million of them in developing countries), 20 million are unsafe, according to
a World Health Organization (WHO) publication "Abortion in the Developing
World".
The case studies included in the book and conducted in countries as far
apart as Mexico and Mauritius, China and Cuba suggest that the relationship
between contraceptive needs and induced abortion remains, for the most part,
unexplored territory in reproductive health research.
Abortion continues to be a very controversial and complex issue given its
political, religious, ethical and health dimensions which often lead to
heated debates in public forums. The book sheds new light on the reality of
abortion which varies dramatically in different social, legal and political
contexts.
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For further information, journalists can contact Mr Valery Abramov,
Health Communications and Public Relations, WHO, Geneva. Telephone (+41 22)
791 2543. Fax (+41 22) 791 4858. Email: [log in to unmask] All WHO Press
Releases, Fact Sheets and Features as well as other information can be
obtained on Internet on the WHO home page http://www.who.ch
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This document is available, with full formatting and
accents, at http://www.csih.org/paho_ndx.html
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