Photo: El Salvador. Staff from the Pan American Health Organization join the campaign "Know Your Numbers" by measuring their blood pressure. At least one in three adults suffer from hypertension --a preventable and treatable condition. Cutting sodium intake can reduce blood pressure to normal levels of one in four people who suffer from hypertension. This can also prevent 25% of heart attacks and strokes worldwide...

Photo: Haiti. Jean-Pierre knows that vaccinating his daughter, Isabel, is one of the best gifts he can give her. The young father’s priority is to protect his daughter against diseases that can endanger her life. “We brought her here to be vaccinated,” Jean-Pierre says while waiting to be called for the life-saving shot at the Eliazar Germain Hospital in Pétion-Ville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince.

Health authorities from French Guiana and Suriname accompanied by health workers and volunteers gear up and head for a binational launch event for Vaccination Week in the Americas.  The slogan for this year’s initiative is “Vaccination: a shared responsibility,” highlighting the importance of everyone doing their part in supporting immunization, one of public health’s most important and cost-effective interventions.

This proud mother shows her son's immunization record. She is excited to learn that the vaccines he got today will be the shield that ensures his future. Vaccination has proven to be one of the most effective means of preventing childhood diseases. This year’s Vaccination Week, being held April 20–27, seeks to protect more than 44 million children and adults in 44 countries and territories from vaccine-preventable diseases...

Photo: USA. Filled with energy, a group of percussionists and PAHO volunteers celebrated World Health Day 2013 raising awareness of hypertension among the fans of the DC United soccer team.  To the beat of Batala Washington's Afro-Brazilian rhythms, the volunteers marched around the field during half-time while tossing t-shirts to the grandstands and carrying a sign that read "Know Your Numbers".