Rio de Janeiro, July 2016
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Carina Vance Mafla takes over as ISAGS’ executive director
ISAGS
Attended by authorities, the inauguration ceremony was marked by the commitment to advance in health integration
After being designated unanimously by the South American Health Council, Carina Vance Mafla took over as ISAGS’ executive director last August 26. In a ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, Ecuador’s former Health Minister (2012-2015) committed with boosting the Institute’s capacity to promote regional articulation and health governance. “We must move forward as a center for strategic thinking and analysis of health policies and practices at regional level, based on the axes established by the Council so as to promote positive changes in health in UNASUR member countries”, she stated. During her inaugural address, Vance highlighted three issues that will be part of ISAGS’ agenda during her two-year term of office: the support to surveillance and response networks, the strengthening of communication strategies and human resources training in South America. “We would like to work in collaboration with other structures of the Council, such as the networks of Technical Schools of Health (RETS) and of Schools of Public Health (RESP), towards the consolidation of a suitable human talent training system in the
region, mainly aimed at addressing the lack of health professionals in vulnerable areas”, explained the new director. The ceremony was attended by delegates from UNASUR member countries, members of Health Council’s Technical Groups and Structuring Networks, scholars and other UNASUR authorities. Representing Venezuela’s Pro Tempore Presidency Ambassador Elvis Urbina, who was responsible for the conduction of Carina’s signature of the inauguration ceremony minutes, acclaimed the Institute and its five years of work in support of regional integration based on health. “Many of the progresses made by UNASUR in the area of social development, were health progresses made possible by ISAGS’ ‘transcendental’ support”, he declared. UNASUR’s director for Social Affairs, Mariano Nascone, congratulated Vance on behalf of the secretary general, Ernesto Samper, and highlighted the importance of José Gomes Temporão’s term of office for the solidification of the Institute. “Dr Temporão has provided the Institute with an identity and has positioned health as a right”, he added.
The event also honored the now ex-executive director and, during his acknowledgment speech, he affirmed that Vance’s appointment was “an accurate decision” now that ISAGS has concluded the stages of its institutionalization and is officially consolidated as an intergovernmental organization in South America. “Carina is impressive due to her management capability, in spite of her young age. Besides that, she has a public health perspective that is based on the social determinants. I am positive that she will be impeccable in moving forward with the regional integration project of UNASUR and the Health Council in this new phase”, he said.
READ MORE Interview with Carina Vance Page. 2 ISAGS 5th Anniversary Page. 3 UNASUR Workshop on Risks and Disasters Page. 4
Interview: Carina Vance
ISAGS
It seems to me that the challenge here is to be able to identify common goals and strategies in the region, our strengths and our needs, in order to mobilize our resources to foster more effective public policies aimed at reducing or eliminating inequity through publications, capacitybuilding, among others.
Carina Vance Mafla’s inauguration as ISAGS new executive director and the recent signature of the Headquarters’ Agreement between UNASUR and Brazil present a new stage to the Institute, after five years of work towards its consolidation. Shortly after being inaugurated, Vance talked about the challenges she will face as the head of the Institute, as well as the priorities of her term of office.
address the issue of access to medicines and prevention of cervical cancer. There are also more than one hundred projects on a database that the Ministries of Health of member countries have developed and which must be elected according to the priorities established in the five-year strategic plan that shall be made available this year by the South American Health Council.
1) How do you evaluate the first five years of the Institute? The period between 2011 and 2016 was essential to develop the institutionality of a space for strategic thinking. Quite often, the Ministries of Health – and this is something I can say due to my experience as a minister in Ecuador for four years – have limited specific spaces for strategic thinking. Therefore, ISAGS’ greatest contribution is to have generated this space, which makes it possible to know the state of the art of public health policies, in order to provide the region’s Ministries with some support based on the priorities established by them. To accomplish this goal, there have been important information systematized, conferences and publications developed, which are extremely valuable to South America and aim at making health a regional integration axis, as determined by the Heads of State of member countries.
3) What will be the methodology for the implementation of these projects? It seems to me that the challenge here is to be able to identify common goals and strategies in the region, our strengths and our needs, in order to mobilize our resources to foster more effective public policies aimed at reducing or eliminating inequity in our region – which is an important factor that increases health risks to the population – and that can be shared and socialized through capacity building, publications, etc. I also believe that it is ISAGS’ fundamental role to work toward making UNASUR’s Health Council a feasible initiative. I think that, in the national ambit, people know the progresses made by the Ministries of Health, but there are progresses at regional level, and we must make them known in order to continue on this path towards integration, which we carry both as ISAGS’ and UNASUR’s political goal.
2) What do you think is your mission over the next two years? We already have some ongoing projects that are very important, and which
4) The region is now going through a political moment that is very different from the time when ISAGS was founded, five years ago. Do you believe that
divergences among the region can make your work in charge of the Institute more difficult? I believe the challenge of having political and ideological differences at regional level is necessary, for when we talk about South American integration, it does not imply the homologation of political trends. An integrative effort involves respecting the political and social evolution of each one of the countries, with their convergences, but also with their differences. On the other hand, it is important to explain that our work abides by a very clear mandate from UNASUR Heads of State, which states that health should become an axis of integration, that health must be understood as a right, and that universal access should be attained by all South American populations. In this regard, I believe all ideological positions of the continent are convergent, since we all want healthier citizens, and strong health systems that are sustainable over time. facebook.com/isags.unasursalud Channel on Youtube: Isags Unasur twitter.com/isagsunasur
ISAGS’ new phase marks the institute’s fifth anniversary
ISAGS
The Health Institute of UNASUR is now consolidated as a tool for regional integration to member countries of the Bloc
Created on July 25, 2011, ISAGS has completed five years as a space for the debate of public policies and promotion of regional collaboration and governance in health in South America. To celebrate the date, the Institute launched a commemorative short film that reinforces its commitment to the principles of the South American Health Council (SHC) and lightheartedly recalls the main
achievements throughout these first five years. The film is available on the Institute’s YouTube, Facebook and Twitter pages, or on the following link: http://bit.ly/ISAGS-5. The Institute’s social media also presented a great retrospective of important meetings, seminars, workshops, courses, publications and other activities developed by ISAGS since its foundation. The posts, which include links for the corresponding
informative materials, can be found with the hashtag #Isags5anos. On the 26th, the Institute entered on a new phase, with the inauguration of its new executive director, Carina Vance Mafla. During the inaugural ceremony, partners from current and previous periods remembered ISAGS’ achievements and talked about their expectations for the future of this UNASUR intergovernmental organization.
Paulo Buss, director of the Global Health Center of Fiocruz (CRIS-Fiocruz):
Mariano Nascone, director for Social Affairs of UNASUR’s General Secretariat:
Elvis Urbina, Venezuela’s Ambassador and Delegate for UNASUR:
“This is the space that enabled the training of several people, the publication of many fundamental documents on the region’s public health and, more importantly, the creation of a culture of debating the role of the government in the sector”.
“ISAGS has a very clear focus on how to move forward with the health agenda in the region, and this position is extremely respected among other international organizations and South American governments”.
“ISAGS has become one of the most important and most emblematic institutions of UNASUR. An important part of the South American identity is constructed here and it demonstrates that real and constructive regional integration is possible”.
Establishing a common agenda and consolidating a white book for mutual cooperation were the goals of the event that took place in the Bloc’s headquarters in Ecuador
On July 21 and 22, UNASUR’s General Secretariat hosted the workshop “Transversalization of disaster risk management in UNASUR”, which gathered representatives from the thematic councils in Mitad del Mundo (Ecuador). The meeting aimed to move forward with the construction of a shared agenda among the structures that deal with the issue within UNASUR, through the identification of complementarity and strengthening common points, as a basis for the activities of the High Level Working Group on Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management (GTANGRD). “Many UNASUR councils have been developing initiatives and have demonstrated significant progresses with their risk agendas, which demonstrates that it is a transversal issue of importance to the regional agenda. With respect to health, the Network of Disaster Risk
Management (GRIDS) aims to work on several strategic lines such as capacity-building, normativity, mutual assistance and international cooperation, in order to achieve risk reduction through adequate response”, observed the director for Citizen Security and Justice of the General Secretariat, David Álvarez. According to the expert, the discussions of the workshop will be used together with the Cooperation Manual for Mutual Assistance elaborated by the General Secretariat at the beginning of the year. “The manual is the first effort which establishes procedures for collaboration and assistance in emergency cases and it is a very significant step. Based on this publication, we shall work with specific protocols and collaboration mechanisms that allows us to respond rapid and efficiently to situations that affect our populations”.
RINC launches Working Group on Communication in Lima
At the event, ISAGS presented its communication strategies and tools
Representatives from UNASUR member countries launched the Working Group on Social Communication during the 1st Social Communication Meeting of the Network of National Cancer Institutes and Institutions (RINC) of the bloc, held on July 6 and 7 at the National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases (INEN), in the capital of Peru. The meeting gathered communication professionals of institutions from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, as well as México, which is an associate member of RINC. The event also presented lectures by Nelvis Castro, from the National Cancer Institute of the United States, Silvana Luciani from the Pan American Health Organization and Melissa Rendler-Garcia from the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). After receiving heartfelt acknowledgments for the hospitality and her constant support to RINC’s activities, INEN’s host and institutional representative, Dr Tatiana Vidaurre, affirmed that she is convinced of the value of integration. “Our conjoint work will most certainly result in
benefits to South American societies”. The countries and institutions that attended the meeting presented their dissemination tools and shared their strengths and weaknesses in communication. Flávia Bueno, coordinator of ISAGS Information and Knowledge Management spoke of the area’s role in the Institute’s initiatives. After the presentations, the participants were divided into groups formed to design a template for the work that will be developed by the Working Group, especially regarding the Regional Plan of Integrated Actions for Cervical Cancer Prevention and Control, a project implemented by RINC and supported by ISAGS with resources from UNASUR’s Common Initiatives Fund (FIC). Soledad Acuña, director for Communication of the Ministry of Public Health of Uruguay, was unanimously appointed to be the head of the Group. “We can no longer think of activities developed by the health sector without the assistance of communication professionals, and therefore promoting a regional view from our local perspectives seems essential and very interesting.”, she observed.
HEALTH CONNECTION CAFÉ UNASUR GATHERS STUDENTS AND THE SECRETARY GENERAL IN RIO DE JANEIRO On its seventh edition, the event promoted one more debate between Ernesto Samper and students of International Relations and related areas linked to priority issues of the South American bloc, such as human rights, labor and the environment. Rafael Padula, professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), highlighted the role of these meetings in developing a “culture of reflections about integration”. ISAGS RELEASES THE SECOND ISSUE OF INSPIRA 2030 Our magazine’s second edition brings the different aspects of the Sustainable Development Goals’ intersector call to ‘leave no one behind’ (bit.ly/Inspira2030-No-OneLeftBehind). Inequality reduction in South America was one of the highlights of UNDP’s first SDG report launched this month. Check it out at bit.ly/InformeODS. UNITAID DIRECTOR AND MERCOSUR HIGH REPRESENTATIVE VISIT ISAGS
ISAGS
UNASUR organizes workshop on disasters and risks
Ambassador Celso Amorim, director of UNITAID, and MERCOSUR’s high representative, Dr Rosinha, met with the Institute’s new director, Carina Vance. The topics of the meeting included the identification of convergence points in their agendas and possibilities for cooperation among the organizations.
INSTITUTIONAL ISAGS-UNASUR Executive Director: Carina Vance Mafla Technical Coordinator: Henri Jouval Head of Office: Luana Bermudez INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Coordinator: Flávia Bueno ISAGS Report Editor: Manoel Giffoni Report: Manoel Giffoni and Karla Menezes Team: Bruno Macabú and Felippe Amarante Contact: comunicacao@isags-unasur.org Phone: +55 21 2505 4400
This is the report from the South American Institute of Government in Health (ISAGS), the think tank on health of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) that aims to contribute to improving South America government quality in health by means of leadership training, knowledge management and technical support to health systems.