PAHO News -- November 7, 2002

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

In this issue:
-SEVENTEEN CANADIANS NAMED PUBLIC HEALTH HEROES
-DOCUMENTARY WORLD PREMIERE ON A CANADIAN PAHO HEALTH HERO
-WHO WORLD HEALTH REPORT 2002: REDUCING RISKS, PROMOTING HEALTHY LIFE
-VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS IN ECUADOR
-JOB OPPORTUNITY: TECHNICAL COORDINATOR, PRIORITY COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
PROJECT
-2002 CONFERENCE ON VACCINES, PREVENTION AND PUBLIC HEALTH: A VISION FOR
THE FUTURE
-STOPPING THE MEASLES VIRUS
-DISEASE PREVENTION AND CONTROL CANNOT BE NEGLECTED
-FUNDS URGENTLY NEEDED TO PREPARE FOR DEADLY NEW STRAIN OF MENINGITIS IN
AFRICA
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SEVENTEEN CANADIANS NAMED PUBLIC HEALTH HEROES

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), celebrating its centennial
this year, has named 17 Canadian Health Heroes who have made substantial
contributions to Public Health. The heroes were honoured October 29 as
part of the 9th Canadian Conference on International Health. The PAHO
Health Heroes in Canada are: Dr. John Blatherwick (Vancouver); Cathy
Crowe, R.N. (Toronto); Dr. Henry Friesen (Winnipeg); Drs. Don & Liz
Hillman (Ottawa); Margaret Hilson, R.N (Ottawa); Dr. Maureen Law
(Ottawa); Dr. John Last (Ottawa); Dr. David R. MacLean
(Halifax/Vancouver); Berna Moss, R.N. (Bassano, Alberta); Dr. Victor
Neufeld (Hamilton); Dr. James Orbinski (Toronto); Dr. Andrew Pipe
(Ottawa); Dr. David Sackett (Markdale, Ontario); David Sweanor (Ottawa);
Dr. Mark Wainberg (Montreal); and, Dr. Pierre Viens (Quebec City).
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DOCUMENTARY WORLD PREMIERE ON A CANADIAN PAHO HEALTH HERO

The Women's Network presents the world premiere of Street Nurse, Sunday,
November 17, at 8:00 p.m. This powerful point-of-view documentary
explores the streets of Toronto through the eyes of Cathy Crowe, who
last week was named a Canadian Health Hero by the Pan American Health
Association.  Cathy calls herself a "street nurse" because her patients
live there. Crowe is a nurse, an activist and an artist who has made
fighting homelessness her life's mission. This one-hour documentary will
take viewers inside Crowe's world, and her fight to raise consciousness
that every person deserves a place to live in a country that can well
afford it. Street Nurse was directed, written and produced by Shelley
Saywell (A Child's Century of War, Crimes of Honor, Out of the Fire) and
airs only days before National Housing Day, which takes place on Friday,
November 22.
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WHO WORLD HEALTH REPORT 2002: REDUCING RISKS, PROMOTING HEALTHY LIFE

Worldwide, healthy life expectancy can be increased by 5 to 10 years if
governments and individuals work together to reduce major health risks
in each region. The WHO World Health Report 2002 breaks new ground by
identifying some major principal global risks to disease, disability and
death in the world today, quantifying their actual impact from region to
region, and then providing examples of cost-effective ways to reduce
those risks, applicable even in poor countries.  For more information on
the Report, visit: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/pr84/en/.
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VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS IN ECUADOR

Ecuador's Reventador Volcano erupted on November 3, producing a huge
explosion and a cloud of ash that reached a height of 20 km. According
to reports from the Red Cross, there are two unconfirmed injuries and
hundreds of people have been evacuated, primarily those working on the
oil pipeline being constructed in the region. Fortunately, the affected
area is sparsely populated; however, 1,200 families are living in the
high risk area and may have to be evacuated. The initial eruption was
followed by subsequent explosions, the latest of which occurred at 3
a.m. on November 4. A cloud of ash has descended on the Ecuadorian
capital city of Quito and the country's central provinces (in addition
to Pichincha, the eruption affected Imbabura, Cotopaxi, Orellana and
Sucumbíos). The President declared a state of emergency in the affected
region. PAHO/WHO and the Ministry of Health have sent emergency teams to
the area. The Ministry of Health has also set up Health Situation Rooms
in the affected provinces and has sent mobile medical care units for
those who require treatment. For further details, visit:
http://www.paho.org/English/PED/ecu-volcano02.htm.
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JOB OPPORTUNITY: TECHNICAL COORDINATOR, PRIORITY COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
PROJECT

A Technical Coordinator is needed for the Priority Communicable Diseases
Project in South America, funded by the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA).  This five-year project involves five
components (Chagas, tuberculosis, dengue, HIV/STI and AIEPI) in five
South American countries.  The coordinator will assist countries in the
formulation, implementation and management of projects within national
control programs, and must be able to exercise judgment in order to
mobilize appropriate technical resources when necessary.  The incumbent
will conduct and participate in site visits, both for detailed planning
of activities and tasks and to supervise the implementation of the
project as a whole.

Among other responsibilities, the coordinator will act as a liaison,
actively looking for ways to incorporate Canadian expertise for project
implementation and collaborative execution of its activities in the
Region.  At minimum, candidates must have seven years of national and
two years of international experience in public health project
development, monitoring and evaluation, and the design, review,
implementation and evaluation of health projects.  The application
deadline is November 15, 2002.  For additional information, contact
[log in to unmask] or visit:
http://pahoapl.paho.org/pahoexternalenglish/ASEPage_JobDetail.ASP .
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2002 CONFERENCE ON VACCINES, PREVENTION AND PUBLIC HEALTH: A VISION FOR
THE FUTURE

The 2002 conference "Vaccine, Prevention and Public Health: A Vision for
the Future" will be held as part of PAHO’s centennial celebrations to
recognize a century of public health achievements in the Americas by
PAHO, its Members States and partners worldwide.  The conference takes
place November 25-27 at PAHO's headquarters in Washington. Among the
major themes, the Conference will include a review by leading experts in
their field of the state of the arts in vaccine science and the
potential applicability of this new technology over the next 50 years in
public health.  For the full press release, visit:
http://www.paho.org/English/HVP/HVI/vaccine_conference_2002.htm.
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STOPPING THE MEASLES VIRUS

Measles is one of the most infectious diseases known to man and remains
the leading cause of vaccine-preventable deaths worldwide.  Prior to
introduction of the measles vaccine in 1963, almost all children would
ultimately become infected by the virus.  The strategy recommended by
PAHO for the interruption of measles transmission in a given area
includes an initial mass vaccination campaign for children aged 9 months
to 14 years and vaccination of children aged 12 months in routine
vaccination services. This must be followed by complementary mass
vaccination campaigns every four years for all children aged 1 to 4
years.  By interrupting indigenous transmission of at least one
indigenous measles strain and by overcoming repeated measles
importations with limited or no secondary transmission, countries of the
Americas have shown that global measles eradication following PAHO's
recommended strategies is possible. The feature article is available at:
http://www.paho.org/English/DPI/100/100feature43.htm.
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DISEASE PREVENTION AND CONTROL CANNOT BE NEGLECTED

When cases of dengue or polio returned to the Americas, it sent a bitter
message to the countries of the region, which the Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO) has since been urgently repeating: disease
prevention and control cannot be neglected.  "The program for dengue
eradication did not fail. But, after a successful eradication of the
vector, there was a relaxation of surveillance and this resulted in
re-infestation followed by the introduction of various serotypes of the
virus which aggravated the situation," said Dr. Jorge R. Arias, regional
adviser in communicable diseases at PAHO. For the full article, visit:
http://www.paho.org/English/DPI/100/100feature42.htm.
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FUNDS URGENTLY NEEDED TO PREPARE FOR DEADLY NEW STRAIN OF MENINGITIS IN
AFRICA

The next outbreak of a new strain of meningitis in Africa could occur at
any time. Funds for vaccines and drugs to prevent deaths and control the
epidemic are urgently required. The International Federation of the Red
Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, UNICEF and WHO are appealing to donors
to rebuild a stockpile of vaccine and medicines needed to prevent
thousands of deaths. Meningitis outbreaks occur almost every year in the
African meningitis belt, which stretches from Ethiopia in the east to
Senegal in the west. In 2002 alone, there were at least 33,000 cases and
2500 deaths. In the past ten years, there have been more than 700,000
cases. This year, a new phenomenon also appeared which has made the task
of dealing with outbreaks of meningitis much harder. A strain known as
W135, which had previously only been responsible for sporadic cases in
Africa, was identified as the main cause of an outbreak in Burkina Faso.
Between February and June 2002, 12,000 people in Burkina Faso were
infected and 1500 of them died, most as a result of the W135 strain.
For further details, visit:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/pr85/en/.
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