Activities of the Director

I attended on behalf of WASPaLM two days of the meetings of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in Washington. Perhaps the most important discussion was in respect of reconfiguring the priorities and the structure of PAHO to be responsive to the needs of the 21^st century. Other highlights of this meeting also included:

A report on methods for the reduction of impact of disasters to health facilities

Discussion of the varying health regulations in the Americas in the current era of rapid electronic communications. With the Internet - "news about many urgent international events will become public before even the most efficient health administration has had time to react and notify."

Presentation of a number of important awards to Latin American physicians

Brazilian physician and researcher Dr. Gastão de Souza Campos received the PAHO Award for Administration. This award was created in 1969. PAHO said that Dr. Gastão de Souza Campos received the award for his "outstanding contribution to the transformation of the health care model through the development of a management method that increased the democratization of the services by strengthening the links between services and the users of the Unified Health System (SUS) in Brazil."

Peruvian physician Dr. Eduardo Salazar Lindo received the Abraham Horwitz Award for Inter-American Health. PAHO said that the award "recognizes and stimulates excellence and leadership in health among persons working in the Americas and persons who produce ideas and work of regional significance." In Dr. Salazar Lindo's case, he was given the award for his "outstanding dedication to infant and child health, especially in the control and mitigation of sanitation- and hygiene-related communicable diseases."

Argentine physician and researcher Dr. Maria Graciela de Ortúzar received the Manuel Velasco Suárez Bioethics Award. The award was given in recognition of her proposed research to develop a new framework on the benefits of genetic research in Latin America.

Discussion on the availability of medicines. The need for dispensing of generic medicines was viewed as critical for population health. In addition, emphasis was placed on HIV therapy. The use of antiretroviral therapy in the Americas, a region in which less than 53 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS have access to those medicines – despite significant price reductions of antiretrovirals over the past three years—is a major problem. More than 2 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in Latin America and the Caribbean. The spread of the HIV epidemic is increasing and an estimated 200,000 persons contracted the infection during 2003. The Caribbean has the second highest prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS in the world after sub-Saharan Africa.

Paul Raslavicus, MD

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