Coverage of the 57th Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization

The 57th Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) ended today following a week of discussions by ministers of health and other delegates on health priorities in the Americas. The meeting approved seven new regional initiatives.

Youth and adolescents throughout the Region of the Americas are disproportionately affected by a range of health issues including violence, suicide, road traffic accidents and substance abuse. Despite increased efforts by countries to develop adolescent youth health plans and policies, many of these have yet to translate into concrete action.

Ministers of health from throughout the Americas have endorsed a series of actions to ensure that people and communities of all ethnicities in the Region have access, without any kind of discrimination, to comprehensive, culturally appropriate, timely, and quality health care services. The Strategy also calls for actions to address the social determinants of health.

A group of young leaders from various countries of the Americas have called for actions that enable them to thrive in life, and not just survive.

Effective violence prevention and response relies on teamwork between the health sector and other public sectors as well as collaboration between research, policy and practice among different international and local stakeholders.

Two major migration movements in the Americas have important implication for health systems, but also present opportunities for countries, according to health officials from Brazil, Colombia and Mexico who spoke today at an event, “Migration and Health: Challenges and Opportunities.”