Pan-American Health Organization

In 1985, PAHO launched a region-wide program to eradicate polio from Latin America and the Caribbean. PAHO contributed funding, and helped marshal political and financial support from countries and donors through the Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee. PAHO also helped address the managerial needs of the eradication program through the creation of an EPI technical advisory group. In 1991, polio was eliminated as a threat to public health in the Western Hemisphere.

Since 1991, PAHO has led a region-wide effort to control Chagas disease in the southern cone of South America. PAHO has coordinated the cooperation of the seven countries through annual PAHO-sponsored meetings. The incidence of the disease has decreased by 94% in the seven countries, and disease transmission has been halted in Uruguay, Chile, and large parts of Brazil and Paraguay.
PAHO provided support to Jamaica’s National Salt Flouridation Program. The program, regarded as a model for micronutrient interventions, helped decrease dental caries in school children by as much as 87 percent between 1987 and 1995.