September 30, 2024
The Minister of Public Health, Antonio Naranjo, participated in the first day of the 61st Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which takes place from September 30 to October 4, 2024, in Washington, United States. The health authority intervened to socialize the progress being made in Ecuador to address multi-causal problems aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
«We maintain surveillance of respiratory viruses, including COVID-19 on a national scale and have activated vaccination throughout the country. Since 2024, the COVID-19 vaccine has entered the regular schedule as suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO), indicated Minister Naranjo.
In turn, he added that the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) is working on actions to eliminate communicable diseases such as HIV, malaria and Hansen’s disease. In addition to reinforcing the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cancer for which a national commission has been formed.
Likewise, he highlighted that Ecuador launched the Manual of Good Practices for the Prevention of Obstetric Violence, while health professionals at the national level were trained on this topic.
Minister Naranjo, during his speech, indicated that among the advances being recorded to improve the National Health System is the strengthening of technological tools that allow progress towards digital transformation, a public policy supported and promoted by the National Government.
“We are implementing the PERC cost tool (Production, Efficiency, Resources and Costs) in 25 hospitals with the aim of improving the performance of each of the establishments and making more accurate decisions with the data collected,” said the head of Health.
The 61st Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) meets once a year with the ministers of health of the Americas to discuss the progress and challenges of future pandemics and establish regional priorities in the field of health with the purpose of guaranteeing well-being to its populations.
