Panama City, March 17, 2023 (PAHO) – In his initial nation check out considering the fact that taking workplace, the Director of the Pan American Overall health Organization (PAHO), Jarbas Barbosa, met with the President of Republic of Panama, Laurentino Cortizo Cohen, and other national authorities to advance overall health priorities of regional significance.  

For the duration of the meeting, President Cortizo Cohen and the PAHO Director discussed the need to have to strengthen regional manufacturing capacities for medicines and overall health technologies, the digital transformation of overall health systems and actions to mitigate the overall health effect of climate adjust, amongst other subjects.  

“Panama is a essential PAHO Member State and strategic companion for the area,” Dr. Barbosa mentioned, highlighting the country’s leadership in the fight against non-communicable illness (NCDs). “Panama’s policies to lower tobacco, implement the HEARTS initiative for the management of cardiovascular illnesses and efforts to boost front-package labeling can serve as an instance to other nations,” the Director mentioned.  

President Cortizo Cohen thanked the PAHO Director for the “excellent relationship” in between Panama and PAHO and commended the Organization’s crucial assistance to the nation through the COVID-19 pandemic. He also highlighted PAHO’s assistance in the digital transformation of Panama’s overall health technique and underscored Panama’s strategic and logistical capacities for the distribution and attainable future production of medicines in the area.  

For the duration of the meeting, the President and the Director also discussed essential lessons from the pandemic, which brought to the fore the need to have for a lot more equitable access to overall health supplies, medicines and vaccines amongst nations.  

The PAHO Director emphasized the significance of active regional participation in the International Negotiating Physique (INB) for the new pandemic instrument, which will be place forward for adoption by Globe Overall health Organization (WHO) Member States in 2024. “We have a special window of chance to incorporate equitable access into an international agreement,” Dr. Barbosa mentioned. “If we do not use it, we could be in the identical devastating scenario in the subsequent overall health emergency, exactly where market place guidelines stop access to life-saving vaccines to smaller sized or much less economically effective nations.”  

For the duration of his check out to Panama, Dr. Barbosa also met with other national authorities and partners. On Thursday, he met with Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Franco, exactly where they discussed assistance to the overall health of migrants, amongst other subjects.   

The PAHO Director also met with Dr. Luis Francisco Sucre, Panama’s Minister of Overall health, to go over subjects such as advancing telehealth, strengthening main care to also cover NCD’s, and response to infectious illness outbreaks, such as malaria.  “PAHO will continue to function closely with Panama to advance these regions,” Dr. Barbosa mentioned.   

The PAHO Director visited the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory (Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud – ICGES), exactly where he met Director Juan Miguel Pascale. He thanked him for the institute’s help to Central American nations in tracking COVID-19 variants through the pandemic, adding that the hopes to boost collaboration to strengthen regional surveillance capacity for other pathogens and antimicrobial resistance. 

Dr. Barbosa’s check out also incorporated discussions with the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Panama, Ana Patricia Graça, and with representatives of numerous UN agencies with which PAHO collaborates closely on the ground, such as UNAIDS, FAO, UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA and OCHA. “Health is essential to improvement,” the Director mentioned, underscoring that PAHO will continue operating with UN partners to “seek revolutionary options to lower inequalities and advance the Sustainable Improvement Purpose.”  

Panama became a PAHO Member State in 1947, and shortly following signed a cooperation agreement for technical help to assistance national public overall health projects.