scholarly journals Progress towards eliminating canine rabies: policies and perspectives from Latin America and the Caribbean

2013 ◽  
Vol 368 (1623) ◽  
pp. 20120143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Antonio Natal Vigilato ◽  
Alfonso Clavijo ◽  
Terezinha Knobl ◽  
Hugo Marcelo Tamayo Silva ◽  
Ottorino Cosivi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Disease Diagnosis ◽  
Human Rabies ◽  
The Political ◽  
Post Exposure Prophylaxis ◽  
Political Commitment ◽  
Canine Rabies ◽  
Rabies Control ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Health Organization

Human rabies transmitted by dogs is considered a neglected disease that can be eliminated in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) by 2015. The aim of this paper is to discuss canine rabies policies and projections for LAC regarding current strategies for achieving this target and to critically review the political, economic and geographical factors related to the successful elimination of this deadly disease in the context of the difficulties and challenges of the region. The strong political and technical commitment to control rabies in LAC in the 1980s, started with the regional programme coordinated by the Pan American Health Organization. National and subnational programmes involve a range of strategies including mass canine vaccination with more than 51 million doses of canine vaccine produced annually, pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis, improvements in disease diagnosis and intensive surveillance. Rabies incidence in LAC has dramatically declined over the last few decades, with laboratory confirmed dog rabies cases decreasing from approximately 25 000 in 1980 to less than 300 in 2010. Dog-transmitted human rabies cases also decreased from 350 to less than 10 during the same period. Several countries have been declared free of human cases of dog-transmitted rabies, and from the 35 countries in the Americas, there is now only notification of human rabies transmitted by dogs in seven countries (Bolivia, Peru, Honduras, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Guatemala and some states in north and northeast Brazil). Here, we emphasize the importance of the political commitment in the final progression towards disease elimination. The availability of strategies for rabies control, the experience of most countries in the region and the historical ties of solidarity between countries with the support of the scientific community are evidence to affirm that the elimination of dog-transmitted rabies can be achieved in the short term. The final efforts to confront the remaining obstacles, like achieving and sustaining high vaccination coverage in communities that are most impoverished or in remote locations, are faced by countries that struggle to allocate sufficient financial and human resources for rabies control. Continent-wide cooperation is therefore required in the final efforts to secure the free status of remaining countries in the Americas, which is key to the regional elimination of human rabies transmitted by dogs.

scholarly journals History of Rabies Incidence and Rabies Control in Serbia in Support of the Zero by 2030 Campaign to Eliminate Dog-Mediated Human Rabies

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Srđan Stankov ◽  
Dušan Lalošević ◽  
Anthony R. Fooks
Keyword(s):  
Health Department ◽  
Human Rabies ◽  
Surveillance Program ◽  
Post Exposure Prophylaxis ◽  
Canine Rabies ◽  
Rabies Control ◽  
Novi Sad ◽  
Exposure Prophylaxis ◽  
Rabies Prevention ◽  
Rabies Vaccination

Urban (principally canine-mediated) rabies has been a public health risk for people living in Serbia for centuries. The first legal act in urban rabies prevention in Serbia was established in 1834 by introducing high taxes for pet dog owners. Five years later in 1839, the first set of literature describing rabies prevention was issued by the health department from The Serbian Ministry of Interior. An overview of cauterization of rabies wounds was presented as the principal method of rabies post exposure prophylaxis. In 1890, a human rabies vaccination was introduced in Serbia with the royal government directive which ordered patients to be treated at the Pasteur Institute in Budapest in receipt of rabies vaccination. Urban (canine) rabies was eliminated during the 1980s, but sylvatic (principally fox-mediated) rabies still prevailed. The last human rabies case was recorded in the Province of Kosovo and Metohija in 1980. Sylvatic rabies in Serbia is in the final stages of elimination by orally vaccinating foxes (Vulpes vulpes). The only published finding of a lyssavirus among Serbian bats was made in 1954 by Dr Milan Nikolić in the vicinity of Novi Sad. In 2006, a comprehensive two-year active surveillance program of lyssaviruses in bats in Serbia was undertaken. In this single study, all of the bats from Serbia tested negative for a lyssavirus.

scholarly journals Mayaro virus in Latin America and the Caribbean

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niloofar Ganjian ◽  
Ana Riviere-Cinnamond
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Imported Cases ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Mayaro Virus ◽  
Health Organization

Objectives. To assess the distribution of Mayaro virus (MAYV) in Latin America and the Caribbean and evaluate existing country-level MAYV surveillance mechanisms. Methods. Research was conducted from May 2018 through May 2019 to collect data from academic literature on Mayaro fever in Latin America and the Caribbean. PubMed, ClinicalKey, Scopus, Nature, SciELO, LILACS, and Google Scholar were searched for peer-reviewed journal articles, and data from health authorities, including the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and ministries of health, was also sought. MAYV-related publications published from 1954 through 2019 were screened. Publications that added to the overall understanding of MAYV, including its geographical and epidemiological distribution, were included in this report. Results. A total of 901 MAYV cases have been reported in humans in countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Since its discovery in 1954 in Trinidad and Tobago, MAYV has been isolated from individuals living in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. Of those 901 cases, 42 of them were reported exclusively by health authorities. In contrast, 843 confirmed and presumptive autochthonous cases and an additional 16 imported cases were identified in academic literature. No country-level surveillance mechanisms for MAYV were recorded in academic literature or by health authorities. Conclusions. This report demonstrates that MAYV surveillance efforts are limited in comparison to the virus’s presence in Latin America and the Caribbean, highlighting the importance of enhancing arboviral surveillance systems in the affected countries.

Social, Political, and Environmental Impacts in Latin America

2018 ◽  
pp. 284-318
Author(s):  
Rhys Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Economic Impacts ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
The Political ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Caribbean

Rather less has been written about the social, political, and environmental impacts of China on Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) than the economic impacts. In terms of social impacts, the chapter considers the effects in terms of both employment and the way in which Chinese companies in the extractive industries have affected local communities. In LAC, discussion of the political implications have mainly focussed on whether or not China’s growing presence represents a threat to US interests in the region, but there is no evidence that China is exercising undue political influence in the region as the case studies of Brazil and Venezuela illustrate. There is little systematic evidence concerning the environmental impacts, although the case of soybeans illustrates the potential negative consequences of growing demand from China.

International Courts in Latin America and the Caribbean

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Salvatore Caserta
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
International Courts ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Caribbean

This introductory chapter presents the main theoretical and methodological issues of the book. In terms of theory, the chapter explains that the book relies on the concept of de facto authority, according to which international courts become authoritative and powerful when their rulings are endorsed by relevant audiences in their practices. To complement this approach, the chapter explains that the book proposes five original analytical markers, which are central for analysing and explaining the social processes through which international courts, in general, and regional economic courts, in particular, gain or lose de facto authority. These are: (i) the nature of the political environment surrounding them; (ii) the timing of their institutional founding; (iii) the material and/or abstract interests of the agents interacting with them; (iv) the fundamental support of different social groups relating to them; and (v) the societal embeddedness in their operational context.

Health Diplomacy in the Political Process of Integration in Latin America and the Caribbean

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulo Buss ◽  
Sebastián Tobar
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Economic Importance ◽  
Noncommunicable Diseases ◽  
The Political ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Health Diplomacy ◽  
The Caribbean

The construction of the concepts of diplomacy and health diplomacy must consider their conceptions and practices, at both the global and regional levels. Health diplomacy is vitally important in a global context, where health problems cross national borders and more new stakeholders appear every day, both within and outside the health sector. On the other hand, regional integration processes provide excellent opportunities for collective actions and solutions to many of the health challenges at the global level. In the current global context, the best conditions for dealing with many health challenges are found at the global level, but the regional and subregional spheres also play essential roles. The region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) consists of 26 countries or territories that occupy a territory of 7,412,000 square miles—almost 13% of the Earth’s land surface area; it extends from Mexico to Patagonia, where about 621 million people live (as of 2015), distributed among different ethnic groups. Geographically, it is divided into Mexico and Central America, the Caribbean, and South America, but it presents subregions with populations and cultures that are a little more homogenous, like the subregions of the Andes and the English Caribbean. By its characteristics, LAC has acquired increasing global political and economic importance. In the 1960s, integration processes began in the region, including the creation of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), Mercosur, the Andean Community, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Central American System, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), the Sistema Económico Latinoamericano y del Caribe (SELA), the Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración (ALADI), and finally, since 2010, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños, or CELAC), which is the most comprehensive integrative organization. While originally a mechanism for political and economic integration, health is now an important component of all the abovementioned integration processes, with growing social, political, and economic importance in each country and in the region, currently integrating the most important regional and global negotiations. Joint protection against endemic diseases and epidemics, as well as noncommunicable diseases, coordination of border health care, joint action on the international scene (particularly in multilateral organizations such as the United Nations and its main agencies), and the sectoral economic importance of health are among the main situations and initiatives related to health diplomacy in these integration processes. The effectiveness of integration actions—and health within those actions—varies according to the political orientations of the national governments in each conjuncture, amplifying or reducing the spectrum of activities performed. The complexity of both the present and future of this rich political process of regional health diplomacy is also very important for global health governance (GHG).

A review of assessment indicators used by Healthy Municipalities and Communities Program in Latin America and the Caribbean region

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 714-729
Author(s):  
Raul Chaparro ◽  
Santiago Melendi ◽  
Marilina Santero ◽  
Mariana Seijo ◽  
Natalia Elorriaga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
Promotion Policies ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Evaluation And Monitoring ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The Healthy Municipalities and Communities Strategy (HMCS) was developed by the Pan American Health Organization in 1990. Evaluation and monitoring are fundamental components of health promotion policies. The aim of this study is to explore the indicators used in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries to assess the performance of HMCS. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, BVSDE and Google Advanced Search for documents published between January 2000 and April 2016. We included only documents with assessment indicators of the strategy. All articles were independently assessed for eligibility by pairs of reviewers. We classified the indicators with a supporting framework proposed by O’Neill and Simard (Choosing indicators to evaluate Healthy Cities projects: a political task? Health Promot Int 2006, 21, 145–152.). Local level indicators figured far more prominently among countries and were distributed both in projects and specific activities. Regarding the evolution of the HMCS, indicators were reported in the five levels of analysis (local projects and activities, provincial, national and international networks). Empowerment was represented through the presence of active community organizations and different methods of community participation (forums, open hearing and participation maps). Public policies (such as for tobacco cessation) and bylaws adherence and changes in school’s curricula regarding healthy eating were frequently mentioned. However, this review demonstrated that impact indicators related to lifestyle changes or built environment are not clearly defined and there is a lack of indicators to measure progress in achieving change in long-term outcomes in LAC. We highlight the importance of designing validated indicators for measuring the impact of health promotion policies in partnership with each country involved.

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