Minority News
The world you see depends upon the news you get. ®
May 8, 2024
The AZEK Company Announces Preliminary Second Quarter and Year-To-Date Fiscal 2024 Results; Raising Fiscal 2024 Outlook   •     •   Boxlight Reports First Quarter 2024 Financial Results   •     •   Bumble Inc. Announces First Quarter 2024 Results   •     •   B. Riley Will Hold its Annual Commissions for Charity Day on May 16, 2024   •     •   Project Lyme Harnesses the Power of Public Service Announcements to Inform Parents Their Child's Complex Illness Could Be Lyme   •     •   SHOWCASING HEART FOR PEOPLE AND PLANET: SOUTHWEST AIRLINES REPORTS ANNUAL PROGRESS IN SUSTAINABILITY AND CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP   •     •   Veterans Ombud Letter To Minister On Access to Care-At-Home Supports Fairness Gap Affecting Veterans and their Families   •     •   Core Scientific Announces Fiscal First Quarter 2024 Results   •     •   Smith Micro Introduces New Affiliate Influencer and Retail Ambassador Marketing Programs for Promotion of its SafePath®-Base  •     •   Parents Poised to Quit Jobs if Boss Doesn’t Step Up   •     •   Paraguayan President Peña, Chairman Emeritus Diaz-Balart, Senator Cortez Masto, Congresswoman Malliotakis, Eduardo Arabu   •     •   The Independence Fund hosts "Beyond the Call" Luncheon Fundraiser to Support Caregivers of Our Nation's Heroes   •     •   REC Group receives EcoVadis Silver Medal for its advanced ESG efforts   •     •   3 Tips for Adults Dealing with Recent Vision Loss   •     •   CapturePoint Announces Agreements with Energy Transfer for Carbon Capture and Storage in Louisiana   •     •   Chippewa Celebrates Mother's Day with Exclusive Giveaway: Win Women's Snake Boots and YETI® Accessories   •     •   Nu Skin Enterprises Announces Quarterly Dividend   •     •   TaskUs Announces Fiscal First Quarter 2024 Results   •     •   Leading Experts Examine Patient-Centered Health Care Across the Lifespan at National Health Council Science of Patient Engagemen  •     •   Limbach Holdings, Inc. Announces First Quarter 2024 Results   •  
HOME SEARCH SUBSCRIBE CONTACT

Latin America CDC a Must, say Public Health Leaders and AHF

MEXICO CITY , April 26 /Businesswire/ - In response to the unprecedented challenges that Latin America has faced during various health crises such as AH1N1, Zika, COVID-19, and Dengue, a prominent group of former health ministers and public health academics from the region has published in the prestigious journal The Lancet the need to create the Latin American Regional Center for Disease Prevention and Control (LATAM CDC). This new agency would seek to strengthen regional resilience against future health crises through collaboration and resource optimization among nations.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Latin America, home to approximately 8.2% of the world's population, reported about 80 million cases and 1.7 million deaths, representing 10% and 25% of global figures, respectively. This impact underscores the lack of effective collaboration among the region's countries, which limited the optimal use of regional resources, such as coordinated negotiation and acquisition of health inputs, diagnostic tests, ventilators, medications, and vaccines.

Patricia J. Garcia, former health minister of Peru, principal professor of the Faculty of Public Health of the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, and one of the initiative's proponents, emphasized the importance of this regional collaboration: "The experience with COVID-19 demonstrated critical deficiencies in our public health infrastructure. The LATAM CDC will serve as a fundamental pillar for prevention, preparedness, and rapid response to future health emergencies, thus strengthening our regional health sovereignty."

Enrique Paris, former health minister of Chile and current president of the Institute of Public Health Policies of the University of San Sebastian, highlighted the need to overcome the regional political and ideological barriers that have traditionally hindered effective cooperation: "Our goal with the LATAM CDC is to transcend political divisions and provide a unified and scientifically validated response to public health crises. This is an essential step to protect the health and safety of our populations."

Jorge Saavedra, Executive Director of the AHF Global Public Health Institute, commented on the proposed governance structure for the LATAM CDC, which seeks to include a wide range of actors: "We propose an inclusive governance model, similar to the Africa CDC or that of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, which integrates governments, academic institutions, international organizations, the private sector, civil society, and communities. This diverse and collaborative structure is crucial for the success of the LATAM CDC."

The LATAM CDC aspires to be a technical center of excellence, free from political interference, promoting horizontal (south-south) cooperation between countries, training public health professionals, standardizing practices for prevention, preparedness, and response to pandemics, and strengthening national health systems. Additionally, it proposes to improve data collection and sharing capabilities and perform real-time regional disease surveillance.

This body will also seek to develop public health goods, such as response models and new digital technologies, and have the authority to declare Regional Public Health Security Emergencies, which would allow for more agile and effective resource mobilization compared to current procedures that depend on declarations of emergencies by the World Health Organization.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.9 million clients in 46 countries worldwide in the U.S., Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare

The AHF Global Public Health Institute is an initiative of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation created to engage in global public health policy analysis and research to generate objective evidence that can inform improvements in public health policy at the global, regional, national, and local levels, particularly for infectious diseases. To learn more about the AHF Global Public Health Institute, visit https://ahfinstitute.org/.