Latin America CDC is mandatory, say public health leaders and AHF

In response to the unprecedented challenges Latin America has faced during various health crises such as AH1N1, Zika, COVID-19 and Dengue, a prominent group of former health ministers and public health academics from the region published in the prestigious journal The Lancet the need to create the Latin American Regional Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC LATAM). This new agency would seek to strengthen regional resilience against future health crises through collaboration and optimization of resources between nations.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Latin America, home to approximately 8.2% of the world’s population, reported around 80 million cases and 1.7 million deaths, representing 10% and 25% of the global figures, respectively. This impact highlights the lack of effective collaboration among countries in the region, which has limited the optimal use of regional resources, such as coordinated negotiation and procurement of health supplies, diagnostic tests, ventilators, medicines and vaccines.

Patricia J. Garcia, former Minister of Health of Peru, principal professor at the Faculty of Public Health at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, and one of the proponents of the initiative, emphasized the importance of this regional collaboration: “The experience with COVID-19 has demonstrated deficiencies critical issues in our public health infrastructure. CDC LATAM will serve as a fundamental pillar for the prevention, preparation and rapid response to future health emergencies, thus strengthening our regional health sovereignty.”

Enrique Paris, former Minister of Health of Chile and current president of the Public Health Policy Institute at the University of San Sebastián, highlighted the need to overcome regional political and ideological barriers that have traditionally impeded effective cooperation: “Our goal with the CDC LATAM is about transcending political divisions and providing a unified, scientifically validated response to public health crises. This is an essential step to protect the health and safety of our populations.”

Jorge Saavedra, executive director of the AHF Global Public Health Institute, commented on the governance structure proposed for CDC LATAM, which seeks to include a wide variety of actors: “We propose an inclusive governance model, similar to the Africa CDC or to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which integrates governments, academic institutions, international organizations, the private sector, civil society and communities. This diverse and collaborative structure is crucial to the success of CDC LATAM.”

The Latin American CDC aspires to be a technical center of excellence, free from political interference, promoting horizontal (south-south) cooperation between countries, training public health professionals, standardizing practices for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, and strengthening national health systems. Furthermore, it proposes to improve data collection and sharing capabilities and conduct real-time disease surveillance in the region.

This body will also seek to develop public health assets, such as response models and new digital technologies, and will have the authority to declare Regional Public Health Security Emergencies, which would allow for a more agile and effective mobilization of resources compared to current procedures that depend on emergency declarations by the World Health Organization.

A AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 1.9 million customers in 46 countries around the world, including the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, Asia/Pacific and Europe. To learn more about AHF, visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and on Instagram: @aidshealthcare

A O AHF Institute for Global Public Health is an AIDS Healthcare Foundation initiative created to engage in global public health policy analysis and research to generate objective evidence that can inform public health policy improvements at the global, regional, national and local levels, especially for infectious diseases. To learn more about the AHF Global Public Health Institute, visit https://ahfinstitute.org/.

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