Social Development and Public Governance > Social Development > Health and HIV/AIDS
Health Promotion
- Initiative "Vida Sana es más Vida"
- Technical Cooperation "Health Priorities in the Southern Cone" (ATN/SF-7144-RG) (Spanish only)
- Final Report "Health Priorities in the Southern Cone" Summary
- Video "Vida Sana es Más Vida"
- Red Salud (Virtual network)
- Initiative contacts
Within the framework of health sector reform, the IDB is supporting public health approaches to substantially improve the health situation and the effective use of health resources. To achieve this, the Bank, with technical support of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Ministries of Health of Canada and the USA, has launched the initiative entitled "Vida Sana es más Vida" (A Healthy Life is a Better Life).
Based on their epidemiological profiles, "Vida Sana es más Vida" seeks that the countries:
- Identify their health priorities;
- Set goals to be achieved in specified periods of time;
- Develop information systems and indicators to track achievements;
- Prepare strategies and action plans at the local, regional and national level to attain the goals;
- Involve civil society and the private sector;
- Reach a strong intersectoral coordination.
"Vida Sana es más Vida" started on October 2000 with a Technical Cooperation Health Priorities in the Southern Cone(ATN/SF-7144-RG) (document in Spanish). A workshop was held in Chile with participants from the southern cone countries and invitees from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. The purpose of the event was for participants to share experiences, as well as to prepare health promotion proposals to be presented to their governments.
The products of the project are:
- A Final Report ?summary in English. Its main conclusions are: i) health promotion/disease-accident prevention is in a lower level of priority in relation to treatment and care; ii) there is lack of coordination between health promotion programs and the delivery of health care services; iii) the methods used to identify priorities and to measure the impact of interventions are weak, iv) there is a need for health promotion programs that are comprehensive, systematic and intersectoral.
- A Video on health promotion and disease/injury prevention to create awareness on public opinion about the active role that people can play in caring for and maintaining their own health. It also stresses the value of implementing comprehensive approaches that include the definition of priority areas, the identification of goals, and the monitoring and evaluation of results.
The project concluded on April 2001. Presently, countries are strengthening their institutional capacity, such as in health promotion structures, human resources, information systems, in order to prepare and implement national plans of health promotion and disease/injury prevention in the near future. In the upcoming months, there are plans to expand this initiative to the other sub-regions of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Last updated: 01/16/07
