PAHO history

The Second International Sanitary Convention, which took place in October 1905 again at the New Willard Hotel in Washington, DC., continued to stress the importance of yellow fever, noting the success of control campaigns in Cuba, the Panama Canal Zone and Mexico.

The Third International Sanitary Convention was held in Mexico City in December 1907.

The report of the Fourth Sanitary Conference (1909) declared: "The hour has arrived when the world is awakening to the need for sanitary betterment.

The fact that yellow fever had by 1919 retreated throughout the Americas facilitated this broader, more ambitious focus.

The Americas experienced a period of accelerated economic growth during the 1920"s, as a result of a dramatic expansion of agriculture and industry.

The fundamental role of the Bureau in information exchange with the countries of the Regions explain the importance given to what was at first called the Bolet�n Panamericano de Sanidad, whose maiden issue appeared in May 1922.

It drafted the "Constitution and Status of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau" which were approved in 1934 by the Ninth Pan American Sanitary Conference It followed that the Eight Conference, convening in Lima in 1927, established a Directing Council to meet every year to 18 months and to consist of officer and members of the Pan American Sanitary Conference.

At the start of the decade and during the entire interval between the two world wars, three international health entities coexisted: the Office International d"Hygi�ne Publique, the health Section of the League of Nations established in London in 1929, and the Pan American Sanitary Bureau.

As Director Cumming wrote in his 1931 report: "The Bureau's expenditures have again exceeded its receipts, and its reserve funds have been drawn upon to cover this deficit."

It drafted the "Constitution and Status of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau" which were approved in 1934 by the Ninth Pan American Sanitary Conference

At their Third Pan American Conference, meeting in Washington DC, in April 1936, the National Directors of Health debated a subject that was to have increasing importance in later years: local health system.

When by 1939 it became clear that the Pan American Highway would become a reality, the Bureau began to look at health and sanitary conditions along its proposed route, understanding that the highway would be a significant and difficult-to-manage conduit for communicable diseases.

The emergence of other international agencies dealing with health prompted the Third Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in January 1942, to adopt two telling resolutions.

On 22 July 1946, 61 states signed the Constitution of the World Health Organization.

These instructions were followed, the first meeting of the newly constituted Directing Council being held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in September-October 1947.

The Council drafted a proposal agreement with WHO that was submitted to the First World Health Assembly in Geneva in 1948, which approved it.

The Pan American Foot -and- Mouth Disease Center (PANAFTOSA) was established in Rio de Janeiro in 1951 as an hemispheric entity for cooperation in the fight against foot - and - mouth disease.

No case of urban yellow fever had been reported since 1954, but the Caribbean was experiencing outbreaks of Dengue.

The Pan American Zoonoses Center (CEPANZO) began operations in Buenos Aires in 1956 to promote and strengthen activities against zoonoses in the Americas.

The organization’s name was changed again in 1958 to Pan American Health Organization.

PAHO also formed a partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank, which in 1959 became the newest member of the Inter-American System.

In 1961, the Director recognized that it is now evident that a long-range research program coordinated by PAHO is needed.

The Latin American Center for Perinatology and Human Development was established in 1970 in Montevideo with a focus on investigation and application of new methods of pregnancy, delivery and the purpuerium, and in the first 30 days of life.

The oil crisis that began in 1973 triggered continuing inflation and affected economies throughout the world.

Eight years after the Americas had wiped out smallpox, the World Health Organization announced the global eradication of the disease in 1979.

A Plan for Priority Health Needs in central America and Panama was adopted by the Ministers of Health of that sub region in March 1984.

Malaria continued to cause great and growing concern, as the number of new cases increased year by year, exceeding 1 million in 1990.