Panama City, March 17, 2023 (PAHO) – In his initial nation go to considering 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 wellness priorities of regional value.  

Through the meeting, President Cortizo Cohen and the PAHO Director discussed the will need to strengthen regional manufacturing capacities for medicines and wellness technologies, the digital transformation of wellness systems and actions to mitigate the wellness effect of climate alter, amongst other subjects.  

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

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

Through the meeting, the President and the Director also discussed crucial lessons from the pandemic, which brought to the fore the will need for far more equitable access to wellness supplies, medicines and vaccines amongst nations.  

The PAHO Director emphasized the value of active regional participation in the International Negotiating Physique (INB) for the new pandemic instrument, which will be place forward for adoption by Planet Overall health Organization (WHO) Member States in 2024. “We have a one of a kind window of chance to involve equitable access into an international agreement,” Dr. Barbosa stated. “If we do not use it, we may well be in the very same devastating scenario in the subsequent wellness emergency, exactly where marketplace guidelines avert access to life-saving vaccines to smaller sized or much less economically effective nations.”  

Through his go to 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 wellness 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 operate closely with Panama to advance these places,” Dr. Barbosa stated.   

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 in the course of the pandemic, adding that the hopes to improve collaboration to strengthen regional surveillance capacity for other pathogens and antimicrobial resistance. 

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

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