On October 20, the conference "The Status of Public Health Systems in the Americas" was given by Dr. Richard Garfield of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States.
The Central American Health Initiative (CAHI) seeks to improve access to and quality of health care for the most needy in Central America by promoting innovation and better management in this sector.
The event began with welcoming remarks by CAHI's Executive Director, Shivaugn Ahern, who explained CAHI's mission and thanked the American Embassy for accompanying CAHI in this event. Then, Enrique Bolaños, Rector of INCAE recognized the great work of CAHI to improve health in Central America and how important this is for social progress.
CAHI's Academic Director, Andrea Prado, moderated a panel with two CAHI Fellows from Nicaragua, Erlin Rugama, Manager of the Essential Medicines Program of Acción Médica Cristiana and member of the first generation of CAHI Fellows, and Marcos Lacayo, Director and Founder of Estación Vital, who shared with the audience their experience in CAHI and the progress of their projects.
This was followed by the lecture "The Status of Public Health Systems in the Americas", given by Dr. Richard Garfield of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States.
"The CSD is willing to help and work much more with the different countries in Central America, but we need the government to be our main ally so that together we can reach successful levels in solving public health problems," said Dr. Garfield.
For Mr. Garfield, health and economic development in Central America has improved in some aspects such as malaria control, infections, mortality reduction, but obesity is still the worst in most countries.
For Guatemala compared to other Central American countries it has a Grade very high malnutrition and in the case of Costa Rica it has made progress in many areas but the obesity problem remains very high.
"A very important topic in the area of health is the topic of communication, since people must be informed with data and give it in a coherent way, and that is why I am very interested in the programs presented by CAHI students, they are the ones who will teach how to communicate with the communities and back to the authorities," commented Garfield.
The event was attended by Shivaugn Ahern, Executive Director of CAHI, Andrea Prado, Academic Director of CAHI, Chad Cummins, Minister Counselor of the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua, members of the public and private health sector, students of INCAE, among others.
Dr. Richard M. Garfield is a specialist at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States; and Professor of Public Health at Columbia University, New York and Emory University in Atlanta. Dr. Garfield worked in the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health (MINSA) in 1980-1987, during which time he wrote the book "Health Care in Nicaragua: Primary Care under Changing Regimes".
Central American Healthcare Initiative (CAHI) has focused since 2012 on investing in the development of the next generation of healthcare leaders in Central America. Through our programs, we accelerate improvements in the quality, efficiency and delivery of healthcare services in the region.
For more information, please contact Mauren Esquivel at mauren.esquivel@incae.edu or (506) 2437-2394.
