Garbas Barbosa of Pernambuco has been elected Director of the American Health Organization

a Dr. Pernambuco Garbas Barbosa was elected on Wednesday (28), Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), For five years, during the 30th Pan American Health Conference, held in Washington.

This WHO Regional Office for the Americas (WHO) is tasked with promoting health policies for the region and has gained prominence in Fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

health and epidemiologist, Garbas Barbossa He graduated from the Federal University of Pernambuco (1981), specializing in public health (1983) and in epidemiology (1988) from the Vuecruz National School of Public Health.

In his career, the doctor worked for the Pernambuco State Health Department (SES/PE), as coordinator of SES / PE STD-Aids Program, between 1987 and 1989. Garbas was also director of the National Center for Epidemiology of Brazil (Cenepi). He joined the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in 2007, as Director of Health Surveillance and Disease Management, a position he held until 2010.

Garbas Barbosa has also worked in Ministry of Health, between 2011 and 2015, initially as Minister of Health Control, and later as Minister of Science, Technology and Strategic Supplies. He represented Brazil on the PAHO/WHO Executive Committee from 2011 to 2014 and was chair of that body and director between 2013 and 2014.

He was also the representative of Brazil on the Executive Board of the World Health Organization, in 2013 and 2014, and Director and President of the World Health Organization. National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) From 2015 to 2018.

By 21 votes to 16, Barbosa da Silva was elected in the fourth round of secret ballot against Panamanian Camilo Allen, after neither of them obtained the 20-vote majority required in the third ballot.

In the first two rounds, the other three candidates were eliminated: Haitian Florence Duberval Guillaume, Mexican Nadine Flora Jasman Zilbermann and Uruguayan Daniel Salinas. Initially, Colombian Fernando Ruiz Gómez was also in the competition, but the government of President Gustavo Petro withdrew its support.

Barbosa He will take office on February 1, 2023to replace Carissa F Etienne, of Dominica, who is leaving the position after two terms, marked, in recent years, by facing the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It is not easy to follow in Dr. Etienne’s footsteps, but I am, yes, convinced that with the same commitment we have to promoting quality of life and health, we will be able to work together,” said Barbosa, Jr., after your election.

“Very proud and happy,” he pledged to carry forward the values ​​that shaped the organization, such as “solidarity,” and to ensure that all countries work “in a coordinated manner to improve the quality of life and health in the region.”

With more than 177 million cases and 2.8 million deaths, the Americas has been, at times, the United States epicenter of the epidemic. According to the report presented at the 30th Health Conference of the Pan American Health Organization, The global health crisis caused by the coronavirus has reduced life expectancy by 2.9 years since 2019.

The organisation, which will turn 120 in 2022, has 35 member states, stretching from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego, and three participating countries: France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Founded in 1902 as an international health office to counter the spread of infectious diseases at a time of rapid expansion in shipping.

In 1923, it was renamed the Pan American Health Bureau, and later, in 1958, the Pan American Health Organization.

The Pan American Health Organization is the WHO’s regional office for the Americas and the specialized health agency of the Inter-American System.

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