Peru's health action praised after earthquake
Doctors, nurses, and other health workers in the department of Ica, Peru, won praises from Minister of Health Carlos Vallejos for providing health care and assistance to people affected by the Aug. 15 earthquake, at a time when health workers and their families were also dealing with the effects of the powerful quake. Vallejos expressed his gratitude during a visit in late October to the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Pisco, which suffered serious damage during the quake but managed to continue providing medical care. More than 400 health workers representing 24 health facilities were present to greet the minister. Peru's overall health response after the quake was also praised in a letter from PAHO Representative in Peru Manuel Peña to Peruvian President Alan García. Peru's quick mobilization of disaster relief and alternative health services helped save lives and significantly reduced the suffering of those affected by the quake, Peña noted.

Colombia is first country to eliminate river blindness
Colombia has become the first country to eliminate transmission of onchocerciasis (also known as river blindness) on a countrywide basis, according to officials of the Onchocerciasis Elimination Program of the Americas (OEPA). The announcement came in mid-November at the 17th Inter-American Conference on Onchocerciasis in Quito, Ecuador. Transmission has also been halted in endemic areas of Ecuador and Guatemala, and no new cases of blindness due to the disease have been seen anywhere in the region since 1995. Onchocerciasis, the second-leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide, is caused by the parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus. Elimination is based on mass treatment twice yearly with the antiparasitic drug ivermectin, provided free of charge by Merck & Co. in the Americas and in Africa. Other partners in the OEPA effort include the ministries of health in the six endemic countries, The Carter Center, the Mectizan Donation Program, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lions Clubs International Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, PAHO/WHO, and the Pan American Health and Education Foundation.

Road safety fair is first in Ecuador
The port city of Guayaquil held its first "road safety fair" in late October to raise awareness of the importance of obeying traffic laws and exercising caution when driving or walking to prevent crashes and injuries. Some 3,000 school children and hundreds of adults attended the three-day fair, which included workshops devoted to reading, painting, puppets, and dramatizations about road safety issues. One of the most popular attractions was an "impact simulator" that allowed fairgoers to experience a crash at 30 km/hr to understand the importance of seat belts. "I learned that we should obey traffic signs and tell our parents to put on their seat belts before driving," said one middle schooler. Event organizers included local and national transit authorities, the City of Guayaquil, the Red Cross, the Ministry of Health, PAHO, the Inter-Institutional Commission on Traffic Education, Safety and Prevention, and the Automobile Club of Ecuador. Organizers say they hope to spin off similar road fairs in towns throughout Ecuador in 2008.

New networks to link policy with evidence
A Western Hemisphere version of Evidence Informed Policy Networks (EVIPNet) has been launched by PAHO to promote the use of scientific evidence in health policy- and decision-making in low- and middle-income countries. EVIPNet Americas will act as a clearinghouse linking policymakers, planners, and researchers. It will feature rapid response units that can quickly retrieve research results on priority health issues and will provide training for policymakers in the acquisition, assessment, adaptation, and application of high quality evidence. The networks, which also exist in Africa and Asia, will encourage the production of relevant research and will support forums in which evidence summaries form the basis for discussions between policymakers, civil society groups, researchers, and other public health stakeholders. EVIPNet Americas was launched during a meeting of policymakers and researchers from nine countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and from Canada and the United States.

New PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centers
PAHO/WHO has named five new Collaborating Centers in the Americas: the PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center on HIV/AIDS Vaccine Research and Development at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) in New York City; the Collaborating Center on Health Risk Assessment and Children's Environmental Health in the Department of Environmental Toxicology at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí Medical School in Mexico; the Collaborating Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology and Control of Salmonella and other Foodborne Diseases in the Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases, Foodborne Disease and Epidemiology Team, at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, USA; the Collaborating Center for Nursing and Midwifery Development in the Caribbean at the University of West Indies School of Nursing in Jamaica; and the Collaborating Center for Development of Midwifery Services and Education in the Nurses-Midwifery Education Program at the University of Puerto Rico's Graduate School of Public Heath in San Juan.