PAHO - Pan American Health Organization

Published purpose

The project aims to help reduce the mortality and morbidity rates of women, newborns, children, and vulnerable populations in select Latin American and Caribbean countries. It is designed to strengthen basic primary healthcare systems and service delivery, as well as increase protection from communicable diseases. It specifically focuses on three components: (1) strengthening health service delivery through encouraging integrated and comprehensive services with national health authorities, local and district-level public healthcare institutions, as well as communities and community health networks; (2) implementing health information systems through technical cooperation and training for national health authorities to develop and strengthen the collection of health information, including through surveillance systems and databases; and (3) improving leadership, financing, monitoring and evaluation of national health plans and policies aimed at advancing universal access to basic primary healthcare services. The project prioritizes country-level activities in 11 Latin American and Caribbean countries where maternal newborn and child health (MNCH) needs and gaps are greater. It is expected that other countries in the region also benefit from the project’s lessons learned. The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: (i) strengthened health systems based on the Pan American Health Organization's (PAHO) Basic Primary Health Care Strategy in the region prioritizing women, children and excluded populations, and (ii) increased efficiency and effectiveness of PAHO in carrying out its technical cooperation mandate.