Environmental health strategy of the region of the americas: Strengthening the regional approach for more effective local action

The Pan American Health Organization has committed to build a strategy on Environmental Health in the Region of the Americas that strengthens the capacity of Member States to improve environmental health conditions and better protect their populations against environmental risks. The strategy builds on more than 19 global and 27 regional policy instruments, links its elements to the major development goal of universal health coverage, is based on the principles of local action and equity, and aims to develop initiatives to assure effective stewardship, including research, risk response and mitigation initiatives, and considerations for priority population groups. It seeks to rekindle social and political awareness of the impact of the environment on populations' preventable disease burden, and will guide the establishment of a 10 year Action Plan to build a collaborative response to common problems that individual countries can seldom respond to alone. This Action Plan will include specific regional goals, targets and indicators and will be the cornerstone for implementation. This presentation will explore the process used to develop the strategy, health governance issues, and decisions reached by Member States, and will discuss the strategy's implementation.