HHS Secretary Meets with Ministers of Health of Central America | From Left to Right: the Honorable Anibal Funez Suazo, M.D., Vice Minister of Health of the Republic of Honduras; the Honorable Humberto Alcides Urbina, Director-General of Health, Ministry of Health of the Republic of El Salvador; the Honorable Camilo Alleyne, M.D., Minister of Health of the Republic of Panamá; the Honorable Rossana Garcia González, Director-General of Health, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Costa Rica; the Honorable Secretary Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; the Honorable Margarita Gurdián López, Minister of Health of the Republic of Nicaragua; the Honorable Edwin Asturias, Director of International Cooperation, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Guatemala; and the Honorable José Guillermo Maza Brizuela, M.D., Minister of Health of the Republic of El Salvador. |
October 6, 2006 - The Honorable Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), met on September 25-26, 2006, with Ministers of Health from Central America to discuss collaboration between HHS and their Ministries to set the stage for health diplomacy directed at improving the health of their people and the health infrastructure of their countries. The Ministers of Health were in Washington, D.C., to attend the 47th Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization. Planning for influenza (H5N1) and pandemic-influenza preparedness is already underway in the Central American countries. The HHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has invested $2.7 million in Fiscal Year 2006 for influenza preparedness in this region. HHS/CDC first established a research station for Central America in El Salvador in 1966, then in 1978 moved the station to Guatemala City, Guatemala. The research station initially began as a resource for studying parasitic diseases, but now serves as a regional office for HHS/CDC in Central America and as one of HHS’ five Global Disease-Detection and Response Centers.
Last revised: October 10, 2007 | 
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