The Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine (AIHM) represented by its Executive Director, Tabatha Parker, and the Pan American Health Organization, Regional Office of the World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) represented by the Director of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau, Carissa F. Etienne, signed a Cooperation Agreement to expand technical and scientific cooperation in traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine.
The AIHM and PAHO/WHO are interested in working together on projects and activities to promote primary health care, capacity building, evidence synthesis, and information dissemination, through the implementation of existing international instruments, such as the PAHO Universal Health Strategy, the PAHO Policy on Ethnicity and Health, the PAHO Sustainable Health Agenda for the Americas 2018-2030, as well as the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014-2023 and the WHO Framework on People-Centered Integrated Health Services, among others.
To initiate this agreement, a preliminary planning meeting was held on September 28, in which Tabatha Parker, Director of AIHM, Diego González, Director of BIREME, Veronica Abdala, Manager of Information Sources of BIREME, and Daniel Gallego, member of the MTCI Americas Network, participated.
Both the Director of the AIHM and the Director of BIREME expressed the importance of this agreement and the joy that it has been signed, as it will contribute greatly to the collaborative development of information products and services on Traditional, Complementary, and Integrative Medicine, which will benefit both Latin American and Caribbean countries, as well as the United States and Canada.
During the meeting, it was agreed to start with the development of projects aimed at strengthening access to information through the VHL MTCI, managed by the MTCI Americas Network, as well as the creation of capacities through training courses, the development and improvement of the Evidence Maps in TCIM. “BIREME and its strategic partners have been adapting and refining the Evidence Maps methodology for the last two years, publishing 14 maps in the VHL MTCI Americas web portal and in scientific articles,” said Verónica Abdala. “We hope that this agreement will contribute to expanding the quantity and quality of evidence synthesis products for decision-making in the region,” emphasized Abdala.
About the AIHM
The AIHM is a global health association, which integrates professionals and organizations that work to transform health care: body, mind, spirit, community, and the planet, through education, collaboration and building a global movement. For more information, visit their institutional website https://aihm.org/.