PAHO News – September 25, 2003

PAHO News is also available on the Web!
http://www.csih.org/synergy/synergy.html

In this issue:
- NEW PAHO/WHO PUBLICATIONS
- 44th DIRECTING COUNCIL MEETING OF PAHO, SEPTEMBER 22-26, 2003
- PAHO SETS GOALS TO IMPROVE HEALTH OF POOREST CITIZENS
- NEW WHO DIRECTOR SETS OUT HEALTH CHALLENGES
- CANADIAN, U.S., ARGENTINE CITIZENS RECEIVE PAHO AWARDS
- PAHO PLANS TO DEAL WITH POTENTIAL NEW INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC
- EARTHQUAKE IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, SEPTEMBER 22, 2003
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NEW PAHO/WHO PUBLICATIONS
The 2003 Annual Report of the Director: Moving towards a New Century of
Health in the Americas is now available.  This report cites dramatic
health improvements in the Americas, but an uneven distribution of these
gains.  PAHO's analysis of health data shows that income factors,
literacy rates and access to clean water and sanitation are indicators
of whether groups of people or entire nations share in the health
advances that marked the end of the 20th century.  For an online version
of the report in PDF format, visit
http://www.paho.org/English/GOV/CD/cd44-od312-e.htm
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44th DIRECTING COUNCIL MEETING OF PAHO, SEPTEMBER 22-26, 2003
Health Ministers from all countries in the Americas gathered in
Washington Monday, Sept. 22, for the week-long annual meeting of the
Directing Council, the policy-setting governing body of the Pan American
Health Organization.  The main agenda items for the Council include a
report on health in the Americas, sustaining immunization programs and
the elimination of Rubella, preparations for the influenza pandemic,
dengue, the impact of violence on health, integrated management of
childhood illness and the Millennium Development Goals.  For more
information on the conference and daily scheduled speakers and events,
visit http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/44conference.htm.
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PAHO SETS GOALS TO IMPROVE HEALTH OF POOREST CITIZENS
On Monday September 22, 2003, at the 44th Directing Council Meeting,
PAHO announced that it is positioning itself to reach an ambitious set
of goals in the next 12 years to improve the health of the hemisphere’s
poorest citizens, without letting progress on other fronts stall.  PAHO
formed its initiative under the Millennium Development Goals established
by the United Nations to achieve a broad range of reforms and advances
worldwide by 2015.  For health in the Americas, this translates into a
set of three general goals for PAHO: to improve circumstances for the
most challenged areas and populations of the Region so all will enjoy
health conditions that are not below what is considered average for the
Region as a whole; to preserve gains made in public health over the last
quarter century; and, to meet new challenges posed by circumstances as
diverse as the emergence of new diseases to the threats of international
terrorism.  For more information, visit
http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr030922b.htm
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NEW WHO DIRECTOR SETS OUT HEALTH CHALLENGES
On Wednesday September 24, 2003, Dr. Jong-Wook Lee, the newest director
of the World Health Organization (WHO) spoke at the 44th annual PAHO
meeting and outlined the greatest health challenges facing the world
today: health inequalities, the threat of terrorist acts involving
biological warfare and infectious diseases, and the “catastrophe” of
HIV/AIDS.  Noting that the United Nations Millennium Summit had
committed the global community to the goals of cutting child mortality,
improving maternal health, and controlling major infectious diseases, as
well as others with a direct bearing on health, he said, "Better health
for all is our common goal. Let's work together to achieve this, in the
Americas and globally."  For the entire PAHO press release, visit
http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr030924a.htm
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CANADIAN, U.S., ARGENTINE CITIZENS RECEIVE PAHO AWARDS
A former Canadian provincial premier, a Brazilian-born U.S. physician,
and an Argentine doctor are the winners of PAHO awards and were honored
at the meeting of PAHO’s 44th Directing Council September 22, 2003.  Roy
Romanow, Premier of Saskatchewan from 1991 through 2001, received the
2003 PAHO Award for Administration for his work in creating the
Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission and in leading the Commission on
the Future of Health Care in Canada.  Romanow is internationally
regarded as a leading figure in health policy and administration.  Dr.
Martin R. Eichelberger won the 2003 Abraham Horwitz Award for Leadership
in Inter-American Health. The award recognizes and encourages excellence
and leadership in health among persons working in the Americas who
produce ideas and work of regional significance. Finally, Dr. Rosa
Angelina Pace received the 2003 Manuel Velasco Suarez Award in
Bioethics. Dr. Pace works for the School of Medicine of Buenos Aires’
Italian Hospital. She has done research work for PAHO in the field of
ethical and technical aspects of organ transplants. The awards were
conferred in a ceremony during the meeting of health ministers at the
Pan American Health Organization’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
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PAHO PLANS TO DEAL WITH POTENTIAL NEW INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC
Hemispheric health ministers this week announced their support for the
creation of a plan of action for countries in the Americas to deal with
the possible outbreak of a new influenza epidemic that cannot be
entirely halted but merely limited.  A report released at the council
meeting said that the possibility of the outbreak of a new influenza
virus strain is real and the nations of the Americas should be prepared
to deal with it.  The report said that the "sudden and marked change" in
Influenza virus A should be considered one of "the greatest public
health concerns" in the Americas.  Such a change can come about either
through mutation or through the exchange of influenza virus genes or the
transfer of whole virus among host species into what the report called
"novel, genetically distinct subtypes, in a process known as antigenic
shift."  The result: The abrupt appearance of a new virus strain to
which populations may have no immunity and against which no existing
vaccine may give protection.
http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/pr030925a.htm
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EARTHQUAKE IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, SEPTEMBER 22, 2003
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck the Dominican Republic on Monday,
September 22. The quake was located 10 miles south Puerto Plata (pop.
89,000) and 95 miles north northwest of the capital Santo Domingo. The
earthquake forced the temporary evacuation of the Hospital Cabral y
Báez, a 525-bed facility near Puerta Plata; patients were treated
outdoors and in areas that were structurally unaffected. Other nearby
health facilities, including the Children's Hopital and clinics and
health centres, continued normal operations. In Puerto Plata, the
Ricardo Limardo Hospital was unaffected, although several buildings
collapsed, including the Reserve Bank and two private buildings. Only
five people were injured as a result of the earthquake.
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