WASHINGTON, DC – Brazilian Dr. Jarbas Barbosa was sworn in on Tuesday as the new Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), pledging to work in partnership with member states to end the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that the region’s health systems recover stronger than before. He will take office on 1 February 2023.

Despite recent progress towards eliminating trans fat from food, some five billion people remain unprotected from its harmful impacts, thus increasing their risk of heart disease and death, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Barbados government says policies to remove industrially produced trans fatty acids from local foods should be in place by December next year.

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, has confirmed the suspension of its services at the Raoul Pierre Louis hospital in the town of Carrefour, a largely residential commune in the Port-au-Prince Arrondissement, after gunmen last week dragged a patient out of institution and killed him.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The New Zealand-based Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI), is warning that dementia in the Caribbean is set to rise by 155 percent to nearly 750,000 cases by 2050.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) says it has developed a digital platform to bring telehealth services to remote populations in Latin American and Caribbean countries, making telemedicine the “new normal” for healthcare workers and patients managing chronic diseases.

TORTOLA,  British Virgin Islands – The government is planning to crack down on and implement restrictions as it relates to the smoking of tobacco products in the British Virgin Islands.

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – Nearly four months after cholera reappeared in Haiti, the number of victims has risen to 496. 

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley on Thursday assured there was no need to change COVID-19 protocols, impose new restrictions, cancel Carnival or close the country’s borders despite an increase in cases and hospitalizations.

SANTIAGO, Chile – Strengthening health systems in Latin America and the Caribbean in the wake of COVID-19 must be a priority, according to a new World Bank report.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Guyana has taken steps to advance the ‘One Health’ initiative with the signing of an agreement with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

GENEVA – The United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) says three countries from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) will fall short of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target for under-five mortality.