|
Washington,
D.C., July 2011. The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) and the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists have agreed to work together to improve health in Latin America and the Caribbean through a new partnership aimed at enhancing both organizations’ technical cooperation and support to countries.
On 26 July 2011, Dr. Mirta Roses Periago, Director of PAHO/WHO, and Ted Wilson, President of the General Conference of the
Seventh-day
Adventist
Church, met at the Church’s world headquarters in
Silver Spring,
Maryland, to sign a memorandum of understanding that strengthens and improves health initiatives in the
Americas.
PAHO/WHO will provide technical guidance to the Church’s local congregations and national ministries of health to establish and enhance community health centers with the overall aim of increasing access to primary health care. The
Seventh-day
Adventist
Church will facilitate and establish academic links through its global network of universities and schools of public health and in Latin America and the
Caribbean.
“Basing health systems on primary health care is the best approach for producing sustained and equitable improvement in the health of the peoples of the
Americas,” said PAHO Director, Mirta Roses.
Under the new partnership, PAHO/WHO and the Seventh-day Adventist Church will work together to improve the promotion of health in priority countries and conduct joint visits to enhance technical cooperation and support. Mental health will be included among the areas of work to develop.
The new collaboration is unique in that PAHO/WHO—a United Nations and Inter-American agency specializing in health and focused on the regional and national levels— will partner with a Church that has 16,307,880 members in congregations worldwide, is active at the community level with an impressive network of hospitals, clinics, and schools, and works with ministries of health of PAHO/WHO member countries.
For more information visit the PAHO/WHO website.
|
