Health Secretary Amar Ramadhin and his delegation was in Washington, DC, last week to participate in the Pan American Health Organization’s. It is the 30th Pan American Sanitary Conference and the 74th Session of the Regional Committee of WHO for the Americas. Suriname is part of the executive committee of this regional organization until September 2023.
Suriname fulfills the role of rapporteur within the executive committee until September 2022.
Minister Ramadhin voted on behalf of Suriname during the election for the new PAHO director. Six candidates from six different Member States were selected to participate in the election for this position. However, a member state withdrew its candidacy more than a month before the election.
After four exciting rounds of elections the new elected director for PAHO is Jarbas Barbosa Da Silva Jr. from Brazil. He will serve for a period of five years.
During this meeting, Ramadhin made the views of Suriname known per resolution through interventions. Some resolutions that were discussed and approved: Policy for recovering progress towards the SDGs, Policy for improving Mental Health, Policy on Integrated care, Policy on National regulatory systems for medicines and other health technologies, strategies on Genomic surveillance for epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response, Update COVID-19, International Health Regulations, Substance use, Epilepsy, Alcohol, Urban Health, Disaster risk, Health technologies, Cervical cancer, Woman, children, and Adolescent health, Information systems and Trans fatty acid.
