U.S. Health Diplomacy Advances Social Justice in Central America
Washington -- The United States is using "health diplomacy" to advance social justice in Central America. The goal is to give Central Americans in rural areas and poor neighborhoods the chance to receive better health care. The Bush administration says advancing social justice refers to helping the tens of millions of working poor in the Americas escape poverty.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Washington -- The United States is using “health diplomacy” to advance social justice in Central America.
The goal is to give Central Americans in rural areas and poor neighborhoods the chance to receive better health care.
The Bush administration says advancing social justice refers to helping the tens of millions of working poor in the Americas escape poverty.
The administration’s health diplomacy efforts include the creation of a U.S.-backed regional training center for medical personnel in Panama. Michael Leavitt, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said the center is scheduled to be inaugurated formally in June.
Leavitt signed a letter of intent March 20 with his Panamanian counterpart, Camilo Alleyne Marshall, for the training center. The center’s faculty will consist of health care experts from Central America and Health and Human Services.
LEAVITT TRIP TO CENTRAL AMERICA
Leavitt, on a March 25-30 five-nation visit to Central America, said the agreement for the center is the “latest development in ongoing, regional cooperation” between the United States and its neighbors in the Western Hemisphere “to promote health and advance social justice.”
The secretary said the U.S. partnership for creating the school will help prepare Central American nations “to defend against future pandemics. The possibility of a devastating influenza pandemic is our common enemy, and we will need a common defense against it.”
Leavitt said the United States seeks to help shift Central America's health care focus from treatment to prevention.
President Bush said before embarking on his own March 8-14 trip to Latin America that the training center would teach students from Central America “how to be good nurses, technicians and health care workers.”
Speaking March 5, the president said that “in many of the same areas [in Central America] where families have no schools, they have no access to medical care.”
Bush said his message to Central Americans living in poverty is this: “We care about your plight. … It's in our interests that we get good health care to citizens in our neighborhood.” ( See related article. )
Leavitt is telling audiences on his trip that since 2001, the United States has spent almost $1 billion on health programs in Central America. But U.S. efforts to help Central Americans go beyond money, he said.
“Giving money is easy,” said Leavitt. “Sometimes people give money just to get other people to go away. We in the United States don’t want anyone to just go away. Instead, we want to bring our countries closer together.”
HHS officials supplied USINFO with Leavitt’s prepared remarks in Central America.
Leavitt said that U.S. support for Central America includes the direct involvement of personnel from HHS and the U.S. Department of Defense in “treating and healing the poor” in the region.
This includes sending a U.S. Navy ship to make port calls in 12 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The ship’s doctors, nurses and health care professionals expect to treat 85,000 patients -- and conduct up to 1,500 surgeries, Leavitt said.
In addition, Leavitt said Health and Human Services dentists will join military dentists from the U.S. Southern Command ( Southcom ) to perform basic treatments such as filling cavities, treating infections and pulling teeth. They also will offer preventive education on oral health and hygiene to children and their parents and grandparents.
Leavitt said: “Health care problems know no borders. The solution to our shared health problems is shared medical expertise. I am excited by this opportunity to work with my counterparts in Central America and local medical and dental professionals to improve” health care in the Western Hemisphere.
SUPPORT FROM SOUTHCOM
Southcom also announced March 23 that it is constructing two health clinics in Panama’s Bocas del Toro province as part of its efforts to help residents in that region affected by a six-month drought.
U.S. military medical teams will provide immunological, pharmaceutical, optometry and dental services to about 9,000 patients and inoculate livestock at various communities across the province.
In addition, a Southcom-sponsored two-week humanitarian medical mission in the Dominican Republic treated more than 6,300 people in that country. The humanitarian work, begun March 10, is one of more than 60 medical missions that Southcom is sponsoring in 14 Latin American and Caribbean nations from October 2006 through September 2007.
A White House fact sheet on advancing social justice in the Western Hemisphere is available on the White House Web site.
Press releases on Southcom’s work in Panama and the Dominican Republic are available on the Southcom Web site.
For more on U.S. policy, see the The Americas.
( USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov )
Release Date
This story was released on 2007-03-29. Please make sure to visit the official company or organization web site to learn more about the original release date. See our disclaimer for additional information.
