- The Economic and Health Dialogue of the Americas (EHA) was launched on the margins of the 9th Summit of the Americas in June 2022 by the U.S. Department of State.
- EHA comprises a series of official sector-only meetings to foster the political will and commitments necessary to strengthen public health systems and protect economies in the region.
- In March 2024, 17 countries and 13 ministers approved the EHA workplan 2024-2025, defining a strategic route to work for the next 12 months. The plan outlines products that will demonstrate the countries’ commitment to increasing health system resilience and to identifying and leveraging best practices in the public sector, with a focus on the intersections of health and the economy.
- EHA has been working with 20 countries and has conducted 13 technical meetings in the last 14 months with the participation of ministries of health, finance, social development, commerce and foreign affairs.
The COVID-19 crisis revealed structural weaknesses in the region’s capacity to prevent and respond to health emergencies. Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) was, among the world's regions, the most adversely affected by the emergency in terms of health. With only 8.2% of the population, it accounted for 25.5% of worldwide COVID-19 deaths.
With COVID-19 came the realization that pandemics are a major, global, systemic macroeconomic risk.
- The region faced an economic contraction of 6.7 percent of GDP in 2020 – a significant drop for economies that were not doing well even before the pandemic, and almost twice the average global decline of 3.5 percent.
- An estimated 39 million jobs were lost, and more than 20 million people fell into poverty.
The COVID-19 crisis unveiled the intersectoral and regional impact, and thus strengthening of health systems should be prioritized across several ministries, such as finance, foreign affairs, economy in addition to health and supported through regional coordination to mitigate these macroeconomic risks.
- EHA is a multilateral, country driven initiative with the support of an Executive Technical Working Group. Currently the United States and the Dominican Republic serve as co-chairs, and each workstream is co-led by EHA countries in the region. The co-lead countries are responsible for leading the workstreams, coordinating the agenda, and promoting the participation of other countries.
- As part of the initiative, EHA countries have participated in several technical discussions, share best practices, technical tools and lessons learned to develop and coordinate regional projects and deliverables.
- The Executive Technical Working Group (ETWG) facilitates technical assistance and coordination for implementation to advance the initiative. The ETWG is comprised of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Organization of American States (OAS). They collaborate with the co-lead countries and participants to help them fulfill their roles.
EHA is structured into workstreams approved annually by EHA member countries. The following four workstreams, which are the same as those from the 2023-2024 period, were approved during the 2024 EHA Ministerial meeting in the Dominican Republic as part of the 2024-2025 work plan:
Co-leads: Uruguay and Paraguay.
Lead: Bahamas. Focuses on the renewed Essential Public Health Functions (EPHF)
Co-leads: Brazil and Chile. Enhance preparedness and responsiveness for emergencies.
Co-leads: Argentina and Peru.
The During the 9th Summit of the Americas that took place in June 2022 in Los Angeles, the U.S. Department of State (DoS) announced the Economic and Health Dialogue of the Americas (EHA) initiative. EHA was launched in Panamá (2022). The objective of the EHA is to share good practices, facilitate coordination and increase political will for increasing pandemic preparedness and building more robust health systems and resilient economies across the region.
On December 6, 2023, in Montevideo, a high-level meeting of EHA took place as a side event to the launch of the Primary Care Alliance between the Pan-American Health Organization, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. Among the attendees, we had PAHO’s director and the Minister of Health of Uruguay as co-host of the event. The objective was to share with attendees the structure of the initiative and the thematic focus proposed by the co-leading countries.
Seventeen countries and thirteen Ministers along with U.S. Department of State, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), USAID, USTDA, CDC, and Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), participated in the second EHA High Level Meeting. Attendees shared experiences and accomplishments of the last year and approved the 2024-2025 EHA workplan. PAHO and IDB announced the launch of health financing and social protection tools, and USAID and State announced medical countermeasures (MCM) market analysis and mapping projects.
- Mid-term EHA Progress Review: From Los Angeles, USA to Santo Domingo, DR (Hybrid) – Washington D.C., October 2024
- Annual High-Level Meeting (in-person) – Santiago de Chile, Chile, March 2025 (TBC)
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