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Advancing towards universal health in the Americas

My vision for the future of PAHO is to make it the leading Organization in supporting the countries of the Americas with the most innovative and efficient strategies to recover better than they were before, overcome inequalities, and build resilient health systems to improve the response to emergencies and disasters and to achieve universal health care.

To implement this vision, it must be PAHO's priority for the next five years to lead the Region and support the countries in five strategic pillars:

1. Completion of pandemic control.
2. Implementation of lessons learned during the pandemic.
3. Recovery from the impacts of the pandemic on priority health programs, returning better than we were in 2019.
4. Construction of resilient National Health Systems based on renewed and strengthened Primary Health Care.
5. Permanent modernization and improvement of PAHO's management.

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Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, a national of Brazil, was elected Director of the �������� by Member States during the 30th Pan American Sanitary Conference on 28 September 2022. Dr. Barbosa begins his five-year term on 1 February 2023, succeeding Dr. Carissa F. Etienne of Dominica, who led PAHO from 2012 to January of 2023.

From July 2017 until his appointment as Director, he served as PAHO Assistant Director, leading five technical departments and PAHO’s Revolving Fund – a special program to increase equitable access to vaccines in the region. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Barbosa led the Organization’s efforts to support Member States in reducing the impact of the emergency on priority public health programs. He also led the PAHO Task Force for COVID-19 Vaccination in the Americas and launched a platform to expand production of mRNA vaccines in Latin America and the Caribbean to reduce the region’s dependency on imports during future health emergencies.

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