The United States announced on Wednesday a new Americas Health Corps to train 500,000 health workers in the region together with the Pan American Health Organization (OPS), after the pandemic hit, reports the White House.
The health training will cost $100 million, of which the United States will pay a portion.
It is mainly about “providing more advanced skills to existing health workers … in the field of research, service delivery and, to some extent, public health administration,” explained one official. government official who has requested anonymity during a teleconference.
The Health Corps will function as a consortium and partner with academic institutions in the United States and throughout the region to build on and expand existing training programs of the United States government and PAHO, the regional office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Covid-19 had a devastating effect in Latin America and the Caribbean with more than 2.7 million deaths, which represents more than 40% of the deaths registered worldwide, although the WHO estimates that there were many more.
The pandemic “showed us the many cracks in our global health systems and underlined the importance of strong health systems and resilient,” the statement said.
China took advantage of the context of the pandemic to gain influence in a region where it has become the first or second trading partner of many countries. As soon as he could, he deployed the distribution of anticovid vaccines.
Cuba has also sent doctors to work abroad, angering the government of the former US president. donald trump which reacted by suspending PAHO funding for alleged links to this practice.
The White House has made the announcement hours before the president Joe Biden make a speech at the Summit of the Americas Los Angeles, involved in controversy due to the absence of several heads of state, such as Mexico, in protest against the exclusion of the rulers of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.
