Initiative: Inter-American Task Force on Non Communicable Diseases-NCDs (IATF)

The IATF promotes collaboration across various sectors of government in the Americas for a comprehensive response to NCDs at the national, sub-regional, and regional levels. It includes the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Organization of American States (OAS), including the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) and the Inter-American Children’s Institute (IIN), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the World Bank.

Activities: The Inter-American Task Force on NCDs was officially launched on June 17, 2015 at the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS). The task force has sought to support countries in Latin America and the Caribbean with policy advice, technical assistance, resource mobilization, and capacity-building while also facilitating a common and harmonized approach, optimal use of resources, and networking and information exchange among agencies of the Inter-American system and partner institutions to ensure maximum impact.

During 2016, the IATF:
(i) mapped the work of all the agencies in the prevention and control of NCDs;
(ii) held a side event on “Social Inclusion and Health in All Policies,’’ hosted by the IATF in Paraguay on the margins of the Third Meeting of Ministers and High level Authorities of Social Development (III REMDES), which was highly successful to sensitize the Social Development Ministers about role in reducing NCDs;
(iii) launched a PAHO-World Bank publication on Economic Dimensions of NCDs;
(iv) established technical cooperation between PAHO and the IDB to evaluate the economic impact of NCDs.

Plans for 2017 include:
(i) to develop a proposal from Caribbean countries to promote healthy diets with inputs from IIC;
(ii) to further economic studies;
(iii) to complete assessments of country capacity and country progress to meet the global and regional NCD targets;
(iv) to identify areas of opportunities to advance the PAHO Regional NCD Plan of Action by leveraging finance and through loans/grants.

Website: http://www.paho.org/Hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11085&Itemid=40276&lang=en

Beneficiaries: (Regional) All countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Partnership and financing: PAHO/WHO chairs the IATF, working collaboratively with the Partnerships: Organization of American States (OAS) and other partners including the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the World Bank.

Initiative: Regional Multiagency Coordinating Mechanism (RMCM)

The RMCM is a partnership between the IDB, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank, PAHO, USAID and UNAIDS aiming to facilitate the implementation and achievement of targets of the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents' Health 2016-2030 ("The Strategy") in the context of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Strategy was launched by the United Nations Secretary-General in September 2015, during the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit. An Operational Framework was presented during the 69th World Health Assembly and approved by all the World Health Organization Member States. The focus is on sustainable development and equity, emphasizing the need to put the "furthest behind" first. It is expected that the proposed regional multiagency coordinating mechanism will specifically support countries in tackling the root causes of maternal, child and adolescent mortality and morbidity, including health inequities and related social determinants.

Activities: The RMCM will be formally launched in July 2017 in Chile in a meeting called by President Bachelet, as co-chair of the Global Strategy. Planned initial activities include:
i) establish an inter-sectorial multiagency technical working group;
ii) roll-out three sub-regional and national consultations (Mesoamerica, Caribbean, South America) to determine a critical path and assistance needs towards achieving targets of the health strategy;
iii) organize a high level regional summit to obtain national commitments towards the implementation of the global strategy in the context of the Americas.

Beneficiaries: (Regional) All countries of Latin America and the Caribbean

Partnerships and Financing: IDB, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank, PAHO, USAID, and UNAIDS

Initiative: Regional technical cooperations for response to public health emergencies

IDB collaborates with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) to strengthen country capacity to respond to public health emergencies by supporting regional technical cooperations (TCs). One TC is "Support to Strengthen Preparedness, Readiness, and Response to Ebola Virus Disease in Latin America and the Caribbean" (RG-T2571), which seeks to strengthen capacity to quickly respond to and contain the potential spread of Ebola to the region. Another TC is "Strengthening Regional Health Security" (RG-T2870), which aims to strengthen International Health Regulatory capacities of several Caribbean countries, focusing on the detection, response, and prevention of infectious and vector-borne diseases.

Activities:
Since 2015, RG-T2571 has:
(i) trained on clinical practices for isolation and treatment of suspects, containment of dangerous infectious agents, and risk communication and social mobilization;
(ii) supported development of coordination mechanisms for infectious disease response in the Caribbean.

Since 2016, RG-T2870 has focused on:
(i) improvement of biosafety and biosecurity capacities;
(ii) strengthening of emergency operations centers;
(iii) development of specialized workforce;
(iv) rigorous gap analysis and costing estimation for IHR country readiness plans.


Website (RG-T2571): http://www.iadb.org/en/projects/project-description-title,1303.html?id=RG-T2571
Website (RG-T2870): http://www.iadb.org/en/projects/project-description-title,1303.html?id=RG-T2870


Beneficiaries: (Regional) All countries of Latin America and the Caribbean

Partnerships and Financing: IDB, CARPHA and PAHO