Immunizations

The XVII Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Vaccine-preventable Diseases of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) was held from 25-27 July 2006 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. The TAG recognized the substantial progress achieved by member countries since the last meeting in 2004, and the high quality presentations and abstracts at this meeting. This meeting focused on the new challenges involving the transition from child to family immunization. In addressing this unfinished agenda –protecting achievements and facing new challenges– representatives from countries of the Region of the Americas shared their experiences since the last TAG.

Measles/Rubella Case Investigation Form

Vaccination Week in the Americas (VWA) originated with a proposal by the ministers of health of the Andean countries aimed at controlling a measles outbreak in Venezuela and Colombia in 2002. It became a hemispheric initiative in 2003, when the Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) adopted Resolution CD44.R1.

This document describes the guidelines of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) for evaluating the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) at the country level. It is a response to the countries’ need to improve the use of their technical and financial resources, to the recommendations of the Technical Advisory Group of the EPI, and to the mandates of the governments of the countries of the Hemisphere themselves.

Yellow fever remains an important public health problem in the Americas. Occasional cases of jungle yellow fever and the proliferation of Aedes aegypti across the Hemisphere are evidence of the continued high risk of the reurbanization that this disease continues to pose.