Organization of American States Summits of the Americas
 
Follow-up and Implementation: Mandates
  

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HEALTH: Communicable Diseases
 MANDATES

  1. We reaffirm our commitment to the implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) to prevent the international spread of diseases such as pandemic influenza, yellow fever, dengue, malaria and others, and we commit to establish in our countries the basic capacities needed for surveillance and for responding to events that could constitute public health emergencies of international concern. We request that PAHO work with and support the countries, in accordance with the functions entrusted to it in the IHR (2005), in the areas of public health emergency prevention, control and response, particularly with respect to epidemics. (Declaration of Port of Spain, 2009).

  1. We will strengthen cooperation and exchanges of information in the struggle against chronic diseases as well as emerging and re-emerging diseases such as HIV/AIDS, SARS, malaria, tuberculosis, avian flu, and other health risks. We commit to fighting the stigma, misinformation, and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS in the workplace and favor their full access to employment with dignity. We propose to develop crosscutting strategies and cooperation mechanisms, principally within the framework of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), to combat these diseases, including the strengthening and adequate financing of the Global Fund to Combat AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria as well as the development of national preparedness plans to fight potential pandemics, such as avian flu. We urge all countries to accelerate the process of ratification of the new international health regulations and seek to enhance the cooperation mechanisms that would facilitate access to pertinent measures of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the population at risk (Declaration of Mar del Plata, 2005).

  1. To initiate immediately, with the support of PAHO, and finalize by June 2006, national plans on the preparation of influenza and avian flu pandemics in countries that do not have plans. In countries that already have plans, these should be implemented immediately according to the January 2005 decision of the Executive Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) (Plan of Action Mar del Plata, 2005).

  1. To strengthen at the national level the strategy of supervised treatment of tuberculosis, with all of its components, and extend the coverage of the population at risk; in the same manner, coordinate efforts to reduce malaria in endemic countries and strengthen the fight against classic and hemorrhagic dengue (Plan of Action Mar del Plata, 2005).

  1. We recognize the positive results of the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria (GFATM) and we reaffirm our support to their activities and goals. We recommend the continued important participation of civil society in the fulfillment of these goals, and we urge the Global Fund Board to evaluate the eligibility criteria with the intent of addressing middle income countries in the hemisphere Plan of Action Mar del Plata, 2005).

  1. We are particularly concerned with the toll that HIV/AIDS is taking on our respective societies, the proliferation of the disease, and the threat that it poses to the security of our peoples. We recognize that in order to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic we must intensify our prevention, care, and treatment efforts within the Hemisphere. Our political leadership is essential to confront the stigma, discrimination, and fear, which deter people from being tested and from accessing treatment and care. We recognize that to confront the challenge posed by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, it is necessary to continue increasing global cooperation efforts (Declaration of Nuevo León, 2004).

  1. We also urge the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to identify criteria to enable the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to have greater access to its resources (Declaration of Nuevo León, 2004).

  1. We are also concerned about emerging diseases and reemerging diseases, such as malaria, dengue, yellow fever, tuberculosis, leprosy, Chagas, and others, bearing in mind the current economic, social, and environmental health contexts, the impact of recurrent natural disasters, and health problems associated with the unplanned growth of densely populated areas (Declaration of Nuevo León, 2004).

  1. Commit, at the highest level, to combat HIV/AIDS and its consequences, recognizing that this disease is a major threat to the security of our people; in particular seek to increase resources for prevention, education and access to care and treatment as well as research; adopt a multi sectoral and gender sensitive approach to education, to prevention and to controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) by developing participatory programs especially with high risk populations, and by fostering partnerships with civil society including the mass media, the business sector and voluntary organizations; promote the use of ongoing horizontal mechanisms of cooperation to secure the safety of blood; increase national access to treatment of HIV/AIDS related illnesses through measures striving to ensure the provision and affordability of drugs, including reliable distribution and delivery systems and appropriate financing mechanisms consistent with national laws and international agreements acceded to; continue dialogue with the pharmaceutical industry and the private sector in general to encourage the availability of affordable antiretrovirals and other drugs for HIV/AIDS treatment, and promote strategies to facilitate the sharing of drug pricing information including, where appropriate, that available in national data banks; promote and protect the human rights of all persons living with HIV/AIDS, without gender or age discrimination; utilize the June 2001 UN General Assembly Special Session on AIDS as a platform to generate support for hemispheric and national HIV/AIDS programs; (Plan of Action Québec, 2001).

  1. Enhance programs at the hemispheric, national and local levels to prevent, control and treat communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, dengue, malaria and Chagas; ( Plan of Action Québec, 2001).

  1. Seek, through public and private efforts, or partnerships between them, to enhance the availability, access to, and quality of drugs and vaccines, especially for the most needy, by promoting efforts to safeguard the quality, rational selection and use, safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products, with special emphasis on vital and essential drugs; and by supporting regional initiatives that by the year 2002 will facilitate research, development, production and utilization of vaccines, which will reduce the incidence of diseases, such as pneumonia, meningitis, measles, rubella and mumps. (Plan of Action Santiago, 1998).

  • Initiative 2. Strengthen national programs, and those of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), for the control of emerging and recrudescent infectious-contagious diseases and for immunization against diseases of public health importance, for example, those diseases related to environmental deterioration. (Plan of Action Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 1996).

  • Initiative 6. Promote the inclusion of disease outbreak response and disaster planning, preparedness, and mitigation in national development plans; seek to establish, as appropriate, regional emergency response teams and regularly test contingency plans; and promote the establishment of appropriate building construction codes that include regulatory and enforcement mechanisms through the sharing of technical information and expertise. (Plan of Action Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 1996).

  • 17.6 Take the opportunity of the annual PAHO Directing Council Meeting of Western Hemisphere Ministers of Health, with participation of the IDB and donors, to develop a program to combat endemic and communicable diseases as well as a program to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, and to identify sources of funding. (Plan of Action Miami, 1994).

 

 
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