Fact Sheet

The Initiative for Health Diplomacy in the Americas

As part of the President's vision to advance the cause of social justice in the Western Hemisphere, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt’s “Initiative for Health Diplomacy in the Americas” channels technical and financial resources from the U.S. Government and the private-sector to improve health care to people in Central America.

The Secretary’s overarching strategy for the Initiative for Health Diplomacy in the Americas centers on three, key objectives:

• Training missions by U.S. Government personnel -- U.S. Government personnel, both in and out of uniform, will have more training opportunities that will involve treating and healing the poor in Central America. Dental care is one area where much assistance is needed. Some of the targeted countries invest less than one percent of their national Government health budgets into oral health. Beginning in June 2007, U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps dentists, physicians, nurses and other health professionals from HHS joined U.S. Southern Command military medical and humanitarian missions to provide preventive dental and medical care to needy citizens of these countries. The President last year also sent the U.S. Navy Ship Comfort -- a medical ship -- to Latin America and the Caribbean. During its four month detail, the Comfort made port calls in 12 countries, and its doctors, nurses, and health care professionals, including over 60 from the HHS Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, treated over 85,000 patients -- and conducted up to 1,500 surgeries. This year the President sent the U.S. Navy Ship Boxer on mission Continuing Promise to the region for a two-month visit in April and May 2008. U.S. HHS Public Health Service officers joined the 40-member medical team aboard the Boxer. In El Salvador, the mission provided primary medical care to over 11,000 citizens, repaired hospital equipment, trained hospital staff, and shared ideas and experiences on best practices for long-term public health solutions.

• Establishment of a regional training center to train health care workers in the region – In September 2006, HHS established a cooperative agreement (original value $2.5 million) with the Gorgas Memorial Institute on Health Studies in Panamá to support the development of a Regional Health-Care Training Center (RHCTC) in Panamá City to provide training to enhance the knowledge and skills of community health workers and clinicians from Central and South America.  To date, a total of 300 students from all six Central American countries have received training on influenza preparedness and response during Fiscal Years (FY) 2007 and 2008.  Students have come from remote, rural communities, including the Guatemala-México border region, indigenous regions, and those areas visited by the USNS Comfort. Experts from U.S. academic centers, HHS, the U.S. Department of Defense Southern Command, and Central American countries have served as faculty.  The Ministers of Health of Central America have reviewed and approved a comprehensive, expanded curriculum for the Training Center to address priority topics for the region. 

• Harnessing the energies of U.S. NGOs that work in the region to coordinate health assistance -- By better coordinating on-the-ground health care delivery with U.S. NGOs that are operating in the region, we can do a better job of making the most of the resources we have to devote to this mission.

Secretary Leavitt’s June 2008 trip to Central America marks his fifth visit to the region to advance these goals since joining HHS. Following closely on the President's own visit to six Latin American countries, these trips formalized Secretary Leavitt’s previous discussions with Health Ministers and other Governmental representatives about improving the health infrastructure of Central America. The HHS initiative seeks to shift Central America’s health care focus from treatment to prevention. Further, the initiative will advance efforts toward better oral health care, which can significantly impact health care costs and prevent health care problems.