The Director of PAHO meets with the President of Panama – PAHO/WHO

Panama City, March 17, 2023 (PAHO) – In his 1st check out to the nation because taking workplace, Pan American Well being Organization (PAHO) Director Jarbas Barbosa met with the President of the Republic of Panama, Laurentin Cortiz Cohen, and other folks. national authorities to boost wellness priorities of regional value.

In the course of the meeting, President Cortizo Cohen and Director of PAHO discussed, amongst other issues, the require to strengthen regional production capacities for medicines and wellness technologies, the digital transformation of wellness systems and actions to mitigate the effect of climate adjust on wellness.

“Panama is a important member state of PAHO and a strategic companion for the area,” stated Dr. Barbosa, highlighting the country’s leadership in the fight against non-communicable ailments (NCDs). “Panama’s tobacco reduction policy, implementation of the HEARTS initiative to treat cardiovascular illness and efforts to boost front-of-pack labeling can serve as an instance to other nations,” the director stated.

President Cortizo Cohen thanked the Director of PAHO for the “superb partnership” amongst Panama and PAHO and praised the Organization’s essential assistance to the nation through the COVID-19 pandemic. He also highlighted PAHO’s assistance in the digital transformation of the Panamanian wellness method and highlighted Panama’s strategic and logistical capacity for the distribution and doable future production of medicines in the area.

In the course of the meeting, the President and Director also discussed important lessons from the pandemic, which highlighted the require for a lot more equitable access to wellness supplies, medicines and vaccines amongst nations.

The Director of PAHO emphasized the value of active regional participation in the International Negotiating Physique (INB) for the new instrument to combat the pandemic, which the member nations of the Globe Well being Organization (WHO) will propose for adoption in 2024. “We have a exclusive framework for becoming capable to contain the ideal strategy in an international agreement,” Dr. Barbosa stated. “If we do not use it, we could be in the very same devastating circumstance in the subsequent wellness emergency, exactly where industry guidelines protect against access to life-saving vaccines to smaller sized or much less economically potent nations.”

In the course of his check out to Panama, Dr. Barbosa also met with other national authorities and partners. On Thursday, he met with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Franko, exactly where they discussed, amongst other issues, assistance for the wellness of migrants.

The Director of PAHO also met with Dr. Luis Francisco Sucre, Minister of Well being of Panama, to go over subjects such as enhancing telehealth, strengthening major care to contain NCDs, and responding to epidemics of infectious ailments, such as malaria. “PAHO will continue to function closely with Panama to advance these places,” stated Dr. Barbosa.

The director of PAHO visited the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory (Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud – ICGES), exactly where he met with the director, Juan Miguel Pascal. He thanked him for the institute’s help to Central American nations in monitoring the variants of COVID-19 through the pandemic, adding that he hoped to boost cooperation to strengthen regional capacities for the surveillance of other pathogens and resistance to antimicrobial drugs.

Dr. Barbosa’s check out also incorporated discussions with the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Panama, Ana Patricia Gratz, and representatives of various UN agencies with which PAHO functions closely in the field, like UNAIDS, FAO, UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA and OCHA. “Well being is important to improvement,” stated the director, stressing that PAHO will continue to function with UN partners to “seek revolutionary options to lessen inequality and advance the Sustainable Improvement Ambitions.”

Panama became a member state of PAHO in 1947, and shortly thereafter signed a cooperative agreement for technical help to assistance national public wellness projects.