Commissioners are collecting information on root causes of health inequalities in the region. They will present their final report in 2018, with concrete recommendations to reduce or eliminate health equity gaps.
San José, Costa Rica, June 21, 2017 (PAHO/WHO) - The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Commission on Equity and Health Inequalities in the Americas is interviewing senior government officials and leaders from civil society and academia in Costa Rica from June 21 to 23, to better understand the factors that lead to health inequities in the region and find ways to address them.
The commissioners are focusing on gender and gender violence, which are important issues in Costa Rica and Central America, in this session. In addition, they will visit the Women's Delegation and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The commission has already met twice at PAHO headquarters in Washington and once in Bogota, Colombia. The commissioners will make another visit to Trinidad and Tobago.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) established the independent Commission on Equity and Health Inequalities in the Americas in 2016. It is composed of experts who are evaluating evidence on the elements that lead to these inequalities, and will propose actions to improve the health of the people in the region. The Commission’s approach, like PAHO’s activities and programs, aims to incorporate Gender, Equity, Human Rights and Ethnicity, which are considered Cross-Cutting Themes. It will submit final recommendations in 2018. The Secretariat and Working Group on Cross-cutting Issues of PAHO supports the Commission in a manner that ensures the independence of PAHO.
Costa Rica is one of the 15 countries in the Americas that have partnered with the Commission to collaborate in the collection of data. Others include Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States. These countries are providing information and advice on case studies with successful outcomes and others that have failed to improve equity and health inequalities. They will also contribute suggestions for recommendations made by the Commission at the end of its work.
The Commission has already begun the process of examining evidence and preliminary results are being discussed at this meeting in Costa Rica, with participation by PAHO representatives from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Jamaica, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago.
The Commission is chaired by Sir Michael Marmot of the Institute of Health Equity at University College London. Its members include Paulo Buss and Cesar Victora from Brazil, Nila Heredia from Bolivia, Tracy Robinson from Jamaica, Cindy Blackstock from Canada, Mirna Cunningham from Nicaragua, María Paula Romo from Ecuador, Pastor Murillo from Colombia, Mabel Bianco and Victor Abramovich from Argentina, and David Satcher and Jo Ivey Boufford from the United States.
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