Informe out 2012 ing

UNASUR

Report

South American Institute of Government in Health

Rio de Janeiro, october 2012

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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.

The 28th Pan American Sanitary Conference presents Americas advances in Health Latin America has reduced by two thirds the infant mortality in the last two decades and accumulates a rise of 45 years on average in life expectancy since 1900, but faces an increase in mortality from external causes, particularly violent ones. It should prepare for the problems arising from three major demographic changes that are representative of its recent history: aging, urbanization and population growth rate. The conclusions are contained in the document "Health in Americas 2012", released at the 28th Pan American Sanitary Conference, held in Washington (USA) on September 17-21.

During the meeting, the region governments’ representatives have elected Carissa Etienne as the new Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), replacing Mirta Roses. They also approved an Action Plan on Knowledge and Information Management, and dealt with a variety

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28th Pan American Sanitary Conference

of topics relating to Health actions within the region, as Noncommunicable Diseases, HIV/Aids, Infant and Maternal Mortality, Human Resources, Social Determination, Vaccination, among others.

Besides, an Agenda of actions on Health was defined for the continent in the coming years. At the same time, the 64th Session of the World Health Organization Regional Committee took place, during which WHO Reform process was discussed.

Unasur countries representatives showed an outstanding performance at the meeting. Paulo Buss, Brazilian

Carissa Etienne, elected Director of the PAHO/WHO

Technical Coordinator of the South American Health Council (CSS), was awarded the Abraham Horwitz Award for Excellence in Public Health Leadership. Sebastián Tobar, Argentinian Technical Coordinator of CSS, presented a partial evaluation of Health Agenda for the Americas. WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan, acknowledge in her speech the importance of social policies for the Health field, guidance that has already being adopted by South America governments for at least a decade.

UNASUR

Report

South American Institute of Government in Health

South American Health Council holds the first meeting under the Presidency of Peru Health Ministers and Unasur countries representatives held, on September 4-6, the VII Ordinary Meeting of South American Health Council – one of the nine sectorial councils of the regional bloc –, the first meeting under the Pro Tempore Presidency of Peru. The South American Institute of Government in Health, which is part of the Health Council, was represented by its Executive Director, the former Brazilian Minister of Health José Gomes Temporão, and by his Chief of Staff, Mariana Faria. The meeting of the Health Council Coordinating Committee, composed of the region countries’ Technical Coordinators, was held on September 4-5. On the last day, the South American countries’ sanitary authorities had their meeting.

During the meeting, representatives of South American countries have approved: the Work Plan for 2012-2013 proposed by the Pro Tempore Presidency of Peru; ISAGS Annual Operating Plan; the creation of a South American prices database for the purchase of medication (a suggestion given by the Group for Universal Access to Medication); and the Management Network of Risk of Disasters, the South American Health Council’ sixth official network. In addition, ISAGS released to the authorities the first book organized by the Institute, entitled “Health Systems in South America: challenges to the universality, integrality and equity", addressing on Health Systems of the region’s 12 countries,

III South America-Arab Countries (ASPA) Summit

and which is in its final stage of approval by Unasur countries.

On October 10-11, it took place the XXXV Ordinary Meeting of Unasur Delegates Council, which is formed by representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the bloc’s member countries. In that opportunity, issues from Sectorial Councils, among which the medication prices database, were discussed. Yet, were also discussed political alignments about the relationship with third parties and funding to programs and projects of cooperation and integration. In November, it should still take place the VI Ordinary Meeting of Unasur Council of Heads of State and Government. The next Health Council meeting is scheduled for the beginning of 2013, still under the Presidency of Peru.

Parallel to the VII South American Health Council Ordinary Meeting, two other events had also been held in Lima: the meeting of the Network of International Offices and International Cooperation in Health (Redssur/ORIS), another of the six Health Council networks; and the South American Workshop of Management Observatories of Human Resources in Health.

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Unasur and Arab countries will hold an unprecedented meeting of Health Ministers in 2013 The 12 member countries of Unasur and 22 Arab League Nations have committed to promote an unprecedented meeting of Health Ministers in 2013 to discuss matters of cooperation and exchange of experiences on public policies.

Representatives of 32 Governments among the 34 that compose the two regions held, on October 1-2, the III South America-Arab Countries (ASPA) Summit, in the city of Lima (Peru).

At the meeting, the Arab and South American countries undertook to promote an exchange of experiences and cooperation in areas such as primary and specialized health care, research, health systems and human resources, and also to share information and expertise in planning the fight against infectious diseases, as tuberculosis and influenza, and neglected tropical diseases, as malaria and dengue fever, as well as HIV/Aids. The meeting should also be held in Lima.

UNASUR

Report

South American Institute of Government in Health

In addition, the heads of State and Government and senior representatives signed the Lima Declaration, which outlined the cooperation objectives for the coming years in areas such as Trade and Finance; Politics and Diplomacy; Education and Culture; Environment; Science, Technology and Innovation; Social and Development Themes; Energy; Disaster Risk Reduction; Safety; Institutional Affairs; besides Health.

Over the next two years, several meetings will be held at the ministerial level, and in 2015 the IV Aspa Summit is expected to take place in Saudi Arabia. Still, the construction of the General Secretariat headquarters in Lebanon and the establishment of an investment bank for the two regions were suggested.

UN creates High-Level Group to discuss Sustainability Goals During the 67 United Nations General Assembly, this late September, the first meeting of the High-Level Group on Post-2015 Development Agenda was held. Its objective is to discuss the definition of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), so that to comply with what had been agreed in Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainability, held last June in Rio de Janeiro. th

The SDG will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), whose targets were traced to the year 2015.

SDG shall include Health as a central element to the definition of a systemic an intersectoral perspective for the period post MDGs, broadening the concept of Development to include dimensions such as Environment,

Diplomats and ISAGS technical staff during institute's one year celebration (read it on page 4)

Social Development and Determination of Health.

Social

The High-Level Group, coordinated by Prime Minister David Cameron (United Kingdom) and the Presidents Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (Indonesia) and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia), is composed of 30 representatives appointed by the Member States of the five UN regional groups, with the participation of the civil society members, the scientific community and the entire United Nations system.

The High Level Group report should be delivered during the 68th UN General Assembly, to be held next year. Last August, as one of the consequences of Rio+20, it was also created a network of Research Centers, Universities and Technical Institutions to contribute in the elaboration of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Watch on YouTube.com/isagsunasur to speeches at the 67th UN General Assembly made

by Unasur countries, which highlight the importance achieved by the block

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Bolivia will host the first Health National Conference in March 2013 Bolivia has announced that its first National Conference for the Public and Free Health Revolution will take place on March 5-8 2013, in the city of Tarija.

The meeting aims to discuss the "free, universal and high quality access to health services for all Bolivian people" and will be organized by a National Commission comprised of 40 members nominated by the Bolivian Workers Central (COB), the National Health Council, the Bolivian University Executive Committee and the Ministry of Health. ISAGS, as well as other countries from the region, was invited to attend the Conference as an observer.

Currently, the National Commission discusses the settings of the Conference center lines. According to the Bolivian Government proposal, to be debated with the others involved, the center lines should include Infrastructure, Human Resources, Universal Access, Communitarian and Intercultural Health, and the Social Security System Restructuring. Next January and February, Departmental Conferences on Health should also be carried out, as a preparation for the National Conference.

UNASUR

Report

South American Institute of Government in Health

Regional Committees discuss the Reform of the World Health Organization Last September, five out of the six World Health Organization Regional Committees held their annual meetings to discuss, among other things, the WHO Reform. Started in 2010 by means of a consultation made by the Agency’s Director-General, Margaret Chan, to a group of experts, the WHO Reform process had been on the agenda of the last two World Health Assemblies and may be subject of consideration for the WHO 66th edition, expected to occur in May 2013.

During the meetings of WHO Regional Committees for South-East Asia, Europe, Americas, Western Pacific and Eastern Mediterranean, the main points discussed involved the 2014-2015 Budget and 12th General Working Programme 2014-2019, of great importance for the definition of the Agency's performance in the coming years. The meeting of the Regional Committee for Africa is planned to take place this month, on 22-26.

ISAGS promotes Workshop on Health, Environment and Sustainability

The 59th Meeting of the Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean

Center for Strategic Studies on Defense Also last month, ISAGS, represented by its Executive Director and by its Chief of Staff, visited the Center for Strategic Studies on Defense (CEED), connected to the South American Defense Council, another Unasur Sectorial Council, based in Buenos Aires. ISAGS and CEED are the only regional bloc organisms which have established their own headquarters, in addition to the General Secretariat, located in Quito (Ecuador). The ISAGS

On September 27-29, ISAGS held at its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro the workshop on Governance in Health, Environment and Sustainability in an Intersectorial Context. The meeting accomplished the guidelines determined by ISAGS Board of Directors, which is formed by the National Technical Coordinators of South American Health Council, and was attended by the International Development Research Center (IDRC-Canada), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz-Brazil) and by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO).

Please, access slideshare.net/isagsunasur/ and see the presentations made by the participants of the Workshop on Health, Environment and Sustainability

MANAGEMENT OF INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE Coordinator: André Lobato.

Advisors: Amaro Grassi, Flávia Bueno e Manoel Giffoni comunicacao@isags-unasur.org

representatives were welcomed in the Argentinian capital by the CEED Director, Alfredo Forti, and by the Center Sub-Director, Pablo de la Torre.

At the meeting, Unasur’s two strategic centers representatives agreed to jointly conduct studies on how to apply the two bodies’ institutional structure to promote and strengthen public policies in the South American bloc. CEED also presented the construction project of a training plane employing technology and resources from all the bloc countries, showing political and also technical commitment within the region.

A year of ISAGS ISAGS celebrated its first birthday last July 25 and commemorated the progress achieved after a year of work in supporting the regional integration and in the cooperation in Public Health among the 12 member countries of Unasur. The South American Institute of Government in Health was the first cooperation body created aiming to the social field of the regional bloc, underlining the commitment of the region to promote integration beyond the economic and commercial aspects.

To commemorate the date, an event was held on August 9, at the Institute headquarters, entitled "ISAGS and the Institutionalization of Unasur". The Executive Director, José Gomes Temporão; Fausto Lopez, representative of the bloc Secretary-General; Alí Rodríguez Araque; representatives of South American Health Council Networks and Technical Groups; as well as the South American press attended the meeting. During the whole month, academics, diplomats and students were welcomed to an "Open Doors" visiting, organized to bring together ISAGS and the various actors involved and interested in the regional integration and in the promotion and cooperation of public policies on Health in the countries of the region.