Screening and brief interventions (SBI) for harmful use of alcohol are a cost-effective strategy to reduce the risk of alcohol harms and progress to alcohol dependence. They are effective both to the individual and at population level.  A seminar on this topic, organized by PAHO on August 13th, presented a state of the art review to date in the area of e-Screening and brief interventions-SBI and discussed how PAHO and Member States could benefit from the knowledge available. Marissa Esser, Alcohol Program from the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, ORISE Fellow, was the guest speaker for this webinar.

For 70 years, the Office for the U.S.-Mexico Border has provided technical cooperation and support to local, state and federal health authorities in a binational response to health issues. Situated on the busiest and most traveled border in the world, the U.S.-Mexico Border Office is a binational geo-political system based on strong social, economic, cultural, and environmental connections governed by different policies, customs, and laws, said the chief of the field office for the United States-Mexico Border under the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), Dr. Maria Teresa Cerqueira, presented the context and health situation in the border region, on August 7, at PAHO Headquarters.