Latin American Children’s Health Topic of Sept. 10-11 Meeting

A physician’s group that determines the most dangerous diseases affecting Latin American children and makes recommendations to Latin American governments on health care spending will meet at Texas Children’s Hospital Sept. 10 and 11.

Texas Children’s has been selected to host the second meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Integrated Management of Childhood Illness of the Pan American Health Organization, the oldest international public health agency in the world and part of the World Health Organization.

The meeting brings together dozens of physicians from more than 17 countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States to work on strategic issues surrounding pediatric health care worldwide and especially in Latin America.

After the last meeting, the group made recommendations for prevention and treatment of the five diseases deemed most threatening to Latin American children in a report sent to government officials, physician organizations and other groups. Latin American governments used the report to decide how pediatric health care dollars are spent. Meeting participants intend these types of reports together after each advisory group meeting.

“It is a great honor to be chosen to host the Pan American Health Organization, whose initiatives have reached more than 35,000 health professionals in more than 20 countries and focuses on the health and medical well-being of children,” said Victor Manes, director of international operations at Texas Children’s. “The organization promotes primary health care strategies to reach people in their communities and to extend health services equally to all people, especially those who are vulnerable and impoverished.”

The group’s members first met last year to create a valid strategy to reduce mortality in children younger than age 5.

“The Pan American Health Organization’s top priorities are to address equity in care, infant mortality, blood supply, information dissemination, immunization, disaster relief, disease control, nutrition and preventive health,” said Fernando Stein, M.D., medical director of Texas Children’s International and Texas Children’s Progressive Care services, associate professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and a member of the Pan American Health Organization. “As the largest children’s hospital in the United States, Texas Children’s is in a position to contribute to the discussion of these issues and assist in formulating solutions. The fact that Texas Children’s was chosen to lead the annual meeting demonstrates the growth and influence of the hospital’s international health care initiatives.”

Texas Children’s has cared for thousands of children from every corner of the world. Each year, more than 1,000 patients from 80 countries visit the hospital for a variety of health care treatments.

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