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The
humanitarian tragedy that Pakistan is experiencing due
to floods causing hundreds of deaths and leaving
thousands homeless, has mobilized all agencies of the
United Nations, in particular the World Health
Organization (WHO).
Dr.
Daniel López Acuña, Director of Department of Strategy,
Policy and Resource Management Health Action in Crises,
directs relief operations in Pakistan and also
coordinates the intervention with other international
agencies.
Mexico's top executive is not new to this type of
activity. He has run this department of the WHO from its
headquarters in Geneva for four years, adding this to
his previous experience as director of program
management of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
Partnership is Essential
In that
position, he assumed for several years the coordination
of key areas including Governance, Policy and
Partnerships, Planning, Budget and support programs and
strategic development for health in the Americas region.
On his role as director in
Geneva he says, its mission is to generate strategies
and policies in the medium and long term to meet the
demands and needs of the countries where crises occur.
Another task consists of the constant search for
developing strategic alliances and partnerships with
other international agencies to maximize cooperation and
the work of the WHO.
Regarding the situation in Pakistan, where the
collaboration between international humanitarian
agencies to increase efficiency in each of the
interventions is considered essential, the main
objective of the WHO (in addition to emergency relief
medicines, water, treatment of diseases, etc.) will be
like Haiti, rebuilding the health system.
A life dedicated to health
Dr. López-Acuña
is a graduate of the School of Medicine, National
University of Mexico, a specialist in epidemiology, has
a doctorate in public health from Johns Hopkins
University, and his international career began in 1986
when he joined the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
He has also worked as a writer and journalist. He began
writing on social medicine in magazines and newspapers,
worked in newspapers like El Nacional of Mexico, El País
in Spain and in 1979 published the book "Health
Inequality in Mexico", which caused much debate in that
country.
The contribution of journalism at work
He also directed the series' Health and Society,
published by Siglo XXI, compiling works of classical
public health in an era when there were not many public
health texts translated into Spanish.
Dr. López-Acuña
found his way through his journalism by bringing a new
approach to international civil servant work as the
systematic thinking and transmission of ideas, both
reflective and in writing.
The millennium goals
The millennium goals set by the UN
constitute a frame of reference. For some countries in
Africa or Southeast Asia, Latin America and the
Caribbean, there has been backsliding on many health
indicators, such as nutrition, or access to drinking
water. In Dr. López-Acuña view, if there is no
significant change in health investment, the region will
not achieve the Millennium Development Goals, as they
have been established.
Swisslatin / Aldu / adapted in
english by Stephen Hinch (08/25/2010)
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