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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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New Publication from PAHO's Emergency Preparedness Program
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PAHO's Emergency Preparedness Program has released a new
publication: Fundamentos Para la Mitigacion de Desastres
en Establecimientos de salud (Disaster Mitigation
Fundamentals for Health Facilities).
The book is an updated compendium of various past
publications on this subject, providing the basics for
conducting vulnerability studies and more importantly, for
applying practical mitigation measures in hospitals. The
publication is directed at a varied audience including
those involved with planning, operations and the
maintenance of health services. It does not go into
extensive technical detail, yet reinforces the major
problems associated with earthquakes.
At the moment, the publication is available in Spanish and
may be viewed, printed or downloaded at:
http://www.paho.org/spanish/ped/pednew.htm#1
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Inter-American Group Meets on Disaster Reduction
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Washington, DC, January 12, 2000 (PAHO)-Local capacity to
respond to disasters and well-coordinated, appropriate
international response are both critical to help the
populations affected by natural disasters, an Inter-
American group meeting at the Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO) was told today.
PAHO Director Dr. George Alleyne, who chaired an Inter-
American working group meeting on disaster preparedness
and response, said, "Hazards will always be with us but it
is our hope that these agencies and countries can work
together to minimize these hazards. This is not an
abstract matter. We have seen the suffering of those
affected in Venezuela and elsewhere, and we must work to
reduce the vulnerability of the poor to disasters."
The working group, part of the Inter-American Committee on
Natural Disaster Reduction, includes participants from
PAHO, the Organization of American States, the United
Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs,
the International Federation of Red Cross Societies, the
Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Response Agency, UNICEF,
the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, the
Canadian International Development Agency, and others.
Dr. Claude de Ville, PAHO's emergency preparedness chief,
told participants that improving the Inter-American
System's response must go hand in hand with strengthening
local response capacity. Disaster coordination, he said,
entails good information and intelligence, good governance
and accountability, and professional expertise at the site
of a disaster.
He called for a public education campaign on how to
provide effective aid to disaster victims, a unified
source of information, and coordinated technical support
to affected countries. Dr. De Ville also cited traps that
should be avoided in disasters, such as "time consuming
crisis meetings without operational impact, unproductive
duplication or competition, inappropriate emphasis on
visibility rather than excellence and on convenience
rather than effectiveness."
Jeremy Collymore, Director of the Caribbean Disaster and
Emergency Response Agency, said the common goal, as shown
by experience in the Caribbean, is a "timely, effective
and appropriate response" to disasters, with education,
training, cooperation among countries, and a clear link
with poverty reduction.
The Pan American Health Organization, founded in 1902,
works with all the countries of the Americas to improve
the health and raise the living standards of their
peoples. It serves as the Regional Office of the World
Health Organization, and has offices in 27 countries in
Latin America and the Caribbean as well as nine scientific
and technical centers apart from its headquarters in
Washington, D.C. For more information, please call Daniel
Epstein Tel (202) 974-3459, Fax (202) 974-3143, Office of
Public Information, [log in to unmask] 525 Twenty-Third
Street, NW Washington, DC 20037, USA http://www.paho.org
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PAHO Inaugurates New Border Field Office
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EL PASO, Texas, 18 January 2000 (PAHO) - The Director of
the Pan American Health Organization, Dr. George A. O.
Alleyne, inaugurated the new field office on Wednesday,
saying PAHO's work on the U-S.-Mexican border could serve
as a model for other nations.
He said the office on the border, which serves all 10
states along the 2,000-mile-long region, is the "only
office of its kind in the Americas that facilitates
binational work." The PAHO field office also serves as
the secretariat for the U.S.-Mexico Border Health
Association, which shares the new offices in El Paso.
Dr. Alleyne, who has served as PAHO's director since 1995,
delivered the official inaugural address to a group of
officials from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. The
PAHO Director pledged an ongoing commitment to work along
the border to improve the health of the inhabitants on
both sides.
Dr. Alfonso Ruiz, Chief of the El Paso Field Office,
issued the welcoming remarks, saying the border office was
to promote health activities of mutual interest to both
the U.S. and Mexican sides and act as a " neutral forum
for both nations to discuss health and environmental
issues."
Earlier Tuesday, the mayor of El Paso, Carlos Ramirez,
presented Dr. Alleyne with the keys to the city in a brief
ceremony at City Hall. In thanking Mr. Ramirez for the
honor, Dr. Alleyne said: " We are convinced that in this
part of the world, along this border, we can work
together."
The Pan American Health Organization established a field
office in El Paso in 1942. A year later, the US-Mexico
Border Health Association was formally created. Annual
meetings to work on common health issues have been held
each year since then. This year's meeting will be held May
3-5 in Hermosillo, Sonora.
The Pan American Health Organization was founded in 1902
to unite all the nations of the Western Hemisphere in the
quest to improve the health in the region. PAHO also
serves as the Regional Office of the Americas for the
World Health Organization.
For more information call Piedad Huerta (915) 833-6450,
Communicator Officer, [log in to unmask]
http:\\www.paho.org
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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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