PAHO celebrates 100th birthday

It’s an organisation that by any measure has played a major role in the advancement of Belize. And today, PAHO took time out to share a proud history in both the region and Belize. Jacqueline Woods reports.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting

The Pan American Health Organization has been in Belize for half of the one hundred years that PAHO has been serving the Americas.

Rony Maza, Environmental Health Officer, PAHO

“PAHO is very proud to celebrate one hundred years in the Americas, and that is a lot of time, I don’t think many of us will live that amount of time. But we are proud to celebrate that and more proud of the successful stories that we have and achievements in health in promoting health for all. That’s our main mission, and we are happy to achieve so much.”

And the work that PAHO Belize has done over the years was showcased at an open house to observe the organization’s centenary.

Rony Maza

“Our work is concentrated on public health, promoting health as a tool that no government can ignore, keeping health on the top agenda. And as such, PAHO Belize has three national programmes. One of them is the health services and development, the second is health promotion and protection and the third is environmental health. Those three broad areas are where we concentrate on, try to keep our people promoting healthier lifestyles for instance, promoting healthier environments and promoting a better health care system.”

In a lengthy two hour opening ceremony thirteen persons and six organisations were recognised for the work that they have done to promote better health in the country. PAHO also released the two volume publication Health in the Americas, 2002. The books were handed to Minister of Health, Jose Coye. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.