Pan-American Health Organization

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.

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