scholarly journals Status of national policy on companion of choice at birth in Latin America and the Caribbean: Gaps and challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Bremen De Mucio ◽  
Lorena Binfa ◽  
Jovita Ortiz ◽  
Anayda Portela
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Perinatal Outcomes ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Caribbean

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a companion of choice during labor and birth, to improve maternal and perinatal outcomes and women’s satisfaction with health services. To better understand the status of companion of choice in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), an online survey was conducted with members of a midwifery virtual community of practice and with key informants, aiming to identify: 1) existing regulatory instruments related to companion of choice in the countries where the members are practicing; and, 2) key characteristics of implementation of companion of choice, where regulation exists. Responses (n = 112) were received from representatives of 20 of the 43 countries of LAC. Respondents reported existence of a national policy or legislation in seven countries, ministerial norms or institutional protocols in five countries, and no existing policy/protocol in eight countries. Respondents from the same country often provided contradictory responses. Responses differed from information provided by ministries of health in a WHO-led global policy survey in 11 instances. These variations may reflect that midwives were not always aware of the national policy/guideline in their country. We propose that a more robust effort should be undertaken to understand the status of companion of choice for labor and birth in LAC countries, at national, regional, and local level, in public and private facilities. It is important to know if policies exist, at what level of the system, and if key stakeholders, maternity-care health providers, and women are aware of their existence. Efforts should also be made to understand barriers to implementing companion of choice.

scholarly journals COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean: what is known about the status of school reopening?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Fernandez-Guzman ◽  
Lucero Sangster-Carrasco ◽  
Antony Pinedo-Soria
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Caribbean

Nature-based Solutions in Latin America and the Caribbean: Regional Status and Priorities for Growth

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Ozment ◽  
Anelise Schumacher ◽  
Maggie Gonzalez ◽  
Emmie Oliver ◽  
Gabriela Morales ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Landslide Risk ◽  
Urban Flooding ◽  
Investment Opportunity ◽  
River Flooding ◽  
Reef Restoration ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Shed Light

Nature-based solutions (NBS) can contribute to equitable and sustainable development across Latin America and the Caribbean and represent an important investment opportunity for national and subnational governments, infrastructure service providers, development banks, and corporations. Examining the status of NBS efforts and results within the region can shed light on what is required to drive more investment towards NBS projects. To chart a pathway forward, this brief provides a regional review of NBS projects, their status, and implications for investment. These NBS projects aim to address a variety of objectives, including securing water supply, improving water quality, reducing landslide risk, and helping to manage urban flooding, river flooding, or coastal flooding and erosion. The projects utilize a broad range of types of NBS, from forest management to coral reef restoration. This brief outlines the difficulties to scaling NBS adoption in the region and identifies strategies to address the challenges moving forward.

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.

scholarly journals Genealogy of Resistant Tuberculosis in Latin America and the Caribbean until 2020

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Onix J. Cantres-Fonseca ◽  
Francisco Del Olmo-Arroyo
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Multidrug Resistance ◽  
Drug Exposure ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Treatment Resistance ◽  
High Rate ◽  
World Health ◽  
Resistant Tuberculosis ◽  
The World ◽  
The Caribbean

History hallmarks different out brakes events during the last century. Being caught in the in the middle of the catastrophic COVID-19 pandemic, that initiated in 2019 makes possible to forget other causalities. Tuberculosis makes the case. The pathogen has been present more than hundredth years. Relevance rest in worldwide prevalence, pathogen spread, treatment resistance and the need for eradication. Drug treatment resistance is considered as one of the criteria to prioritize a country in the World Health Organization’s intention to eradicate tuberculosis infection in the world. For decades in Latin America, including the Caribbean, there have been a persistent high rate of drug resistance with an overall prevalence to one or more drug rounds 13.0%. Approximately 30% of previously treated cases have a multidrug resistance. In this chapter, we intend to review the epidemiology of resistant tuberculosis, and the causes of resistance associated to the community of people in the Latin American and the Caribbean. We intend to describe the genetic response of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from its migratory journey throughout decades from areas of Europa and Asia to Latin America, its genetic transformation secondary to inadequate drug exposure and the characteristics of the infected host, and how a change in the healthcare system and tuberculosis control strategies access are needed to change the surge of multidrug resistance tuberculosis.

scholarly journals Asbestos and cancer in Latin America and the Caribbean: we may have won some battles, but definitely not the war

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham Hernández-Blanquisett ◽  
Angelina Álvarez-Londoño ◽  
Maria Cristina Martinez-Avila ◽  
Sofía Covo-Camacho ◽  
Valeria Quintero-Carreño
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Clinical Guidelines ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Ultramafic Rocks ◽  
Natural Substances ◽  
The World ◽  
Industrial Use ◽  
The Caribbean

Only six countries have banned the industrial use of asbestos in Latin America and the Caribbean. In fact, the industrial use of asbestos appears to be growing in this region. Asbestos is one of the most dangerous natural substances in the world, it is contained in several types of rocks (such as serpentinites, mafic and ultramafic rocks) but fibers can be released to the atmosphere both by natural and antropogenic sources. Six countries have banned the industrial use of asbestos in this region, we expected that laws established before 2007 would be less adherent to the 2007 WHO/ILO recommendations. In contrast, the Chilean law of 2001 is one of those that most adheres to international recommendations along with the Colombian law of 2021. Which means that the newest laws are not necessarily the strongest. This article aims to draw a regional overview of the laws against asbestos production in Latin America and the Caribbean, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each national policy. We recommend that countries that have already banned asbestos consider updating and strengthening their existing laws and develop clinical guidelines for the management, monitoring, and rehabilitation of asbestos-related diseases. The challenge of asbestos goes far beyond a prohibition law.

scholarly journals Mental health in Latin America and the Caribbean

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-8
Author(s):  
Jorge J. Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
World Health ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
Mental Health Reform ◽  
Pan American ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Made In

Mental illnesses are a growing health problem and reducing the treatment gap in Latin America and the Caribbean is a great challenge. Evaluations conducted by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and World Health Organization (WHO) have shown that the responsiveness of health services is still limited. Nonetheless, from an evaluation of how mental health reform has progressed in the region following the historical benchmark of the Caracas Declaration (1990), it is clear that – despite the limitations, shortcomings and challenges – significant progress has been made in most countries. This paper briefly reviews this progress.

scholarly journals Assessing electronic immunization registries: the Pan American Health Organization experience

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Carolina Danovaro-Holliday ◽  
Marcela P. Contreras ◽  
Dalys Pinto ◽  
Ida Berenice Molina-Aguilera ◽  
Diana Miranda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
World Health ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Evaluation Approach ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Pan American ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Health Organization

Objective.To develop a methodology to assess electronic immunization registries (EIRs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Latin America and the Caribbean.Methods.A team from the Immunization Unit at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reviewed existing methodologies to evaluate health information systems, particularly the Performance of Routine Information System Management (PRISM) framework and methodologies used to assess information systems. In 2014, the PAHO team convened a small working group to develop an evaluation approach to be added to the existing World Health Organization immunization data quality self-assessment (DQS) tool. The resulting DQS with an added EIR component was named “DQS Plus.” The DQS Plus methodology was used in Panama in May 2014 and in Honduras in November 2015.Results.The DQS Plus tool proved feasible and easy to implement in Panama and Honduras, including by not adding much time or resources to those needed for a usual DQS. The information obtained from the DQS Plus assessment was practical and helped provide health authorities with recommendations to update and improve their EIR, strengthen the use of the registry, and enhance the data the assessment produced, at all levels of the health system. These recommendations are currently being implemented in the two countries.Conclusions.The DQS Plus proved to be a practical and useful approach for assessing an EIR in an LMIC and generating actionable recommendations. Further work on defining operational and related EIR functional standards in LMICs will help develop an improved EIR assessment tool for Latin America and the Caribbean, and potentially elsewhere.

Migration, Migrants, and Health in Latin America and the Caribbean

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deisy Ventura ◽  
Jameson Martins da Silva ◽  
Leticia Calderón ◽  
Itzel Eguiluz
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Health Organization

The World Health Organization has recognized health as a right of migrants and refugees, who are entitled to responsive healthcare policies, due to their particular social determinants of health. Migrants’ and refugees’ health is not only related to transmissible diseases but also to mental health, sexual and reproductive health, and non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes. Historically, however, migration has been linked to the spread of diseases and has often artificially served as a scapegoat to local shortcomings, feeding on the xenophobic rhetoric of extremist groups and political leaders. This approach fosters the criminalization of migrants, which has led to unacceptable violations of human rights, as demonstrated by the massive incarceration and deportation policies in developed countries, for example, the United States under the Trump administration. In Latin America and the Caribbean, in particular, there have been legal developments, such as pioneering national legislation in Argentina in 2004 and Brazil in 2017, which suggest some progress in the direction of human rights, although in practice drawbacks abound in the form of countless barriers for migrants to access and benefit from healthcare services in the context of political turmoil and severe socioeconomic inequality. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and enhanced the effects of such inequality in the already frail health conditions of the most disenfranchised, including low-income migrants and refugees; it has both caused governments in Latin America to handle the crisis in a fragmented and unilateral fashion, ignoring opportunities to cooperate and shield the livelihoods of the most vulnerable, and served as a pretext to sharpen the restrictions to cross-border movement and, ultimately, undermine the obligation to protect the dignity of migrants, as the cases of Venezuela and the U.S.-Mexico border illustrate. Still, it could represent an opportunity to integrate the health of migrants to the public health agenda as well as restore cooperation mechanisms building on previous experiences and the existing framework of human rights organizations.

scholarly journals Hunger in Latin America: What Can We Do?

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (s1) ◽  
pp. s94-s94
Author(s):  
Silvana Dal Ponte ◽  
Daniel Menezes
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
World Health ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Food And Nutrition ◽  
The World ◽  
The Caribbean

Introduction:Hunger is a global problem and has increased in recent years. In Latin America, hunger continues in high numbers. Although the level of hunger is relatively low compared to other regions, this increase in Latin America is mainly explained by the economic slowdown in South America. Also, climate changes are already weakening the production of the main crops in tropical and temperate regions.Aim:Report the numbers of hunger in Latin America.Methods:A cross-sectional study with reports of the World Health Organization’s hunger figures, September 2018.Results:The number of hungry people in the world has increased for the third consecutive year and affects 821 million people, according to a report released by UN agencies. This corresponds to one in nine people in the world. In Brazil, the figures indicate that more than 5.2 million people spent a day or more without consuming food by 2017, which corresponds to 2.5% of the population. In Latin America and the Caribbean, hunger has also increased and affects some 39 million people.Discussion:Hunger is a catastrophic problem in Latin America. Involving professionals in food and nutrition to try to reduce these numbers appears to be a good strategy because just as the doctor treats the disease, the involvement of other specialists to address the cause of the problem can bring long-term benefits. A social project for this purpose that mobilizes chefs and nutritionists is in progress in Brazil.

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