Border Partners Forum for Action Prevention
Prevention of Chronic Diseases and Promotion of Healthy Lifestyles
Hotel Camino Real
101 S. El Paso St.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
El Paso, Texas 79901
Scope and Purpose of the Border Partners Forum for Action
The aim of the Forum is to establish a partnership of interested border organizations and companies from a variety of sectors to discuss this opportunity for engagement in actions for the prevention and control of chronic diseases and promotion of healthy lifestyles.
The Border Partners Forum for Action partnership will play a leadership role in bringing good practices to light in the prevention and management of chronic diseases, healthy lifestyles, and supportive environments, and scaling up their application at all levels.
Specific Objectives
- To increase awareness of the need to establish a public policy agenda to prevent chronic diseases and increase investment and action for relevant and innovative solutions;
- To provide a forum for interaction, exchange of ideas and commitment to actions between governments, non-governmental organizations and civil society, international organizations and private sector;
- To provide a stage to share and disseminate good practices and create synergy between efforts;
- To stimulate mobilization of financial and non-financial resources and other partners;
- To catalyze, support and broker similar cross-sectorial partnerships at all levels.
Target Audience: The forum is aimed for various public health professionals/officials and decision makers with an interest in prevention of chronic diseases. Our primary audience includes physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, social workers, public health and hospital professionals, health promoters, community health workers, and other allied health professionals, students preparing for careers in health care professions and related areas, as well as the general public are welcome to attend.
Background Information
Considering the high prevalence and burden of chronic diseases among the U.S. Mexico border population, and the need to mobilize society, policy and decision makers as well as increase investment in prevention of chronic diseases and their risk factors; the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) U.S.-Mexico Border Office is convening a partnership of stakeholders from multiple sectors to assess the situation, build awareness and consensus to strengthen actions and public policy.
Throughout the last year PAHO has held a series of consultations with different stakeholders to develop and redefine the concept of the Partners Forum for Action. The first of which, was held during the World Economic Forum on Latin America, in Rio de Janeiro, PAHO and the World Economic Forum organized a private event to discuss the proposed public-private partnership with private sector, government and relevant organizations from the region.
Outcomes of the meeting highlighted a common accord for the momentum to start scale up action to tackle chronic diseases, to promote healthy lifestyles and create supportive environments; and to join the many ongoing efforts for better synergy, following existing initiatives such as the Trans Fat Free Americas. Strong interest was expressed to further discuss concrete actions and the role that the private sector could play in the PAHO/WHO Partners Forum subsequently held in Washington, DC on 16th of July 2009.
The main conclusions from the PAHO/WHO Partners Forum mentioned included the identification of challenges in the following critical areas:
- Communication, information, advocacy and education
Have an evidence based approach, need for strategic orientation, need for greater choices for poor and illiterate populations, strengthen needed infrastructure, high turn over in the health sector, need to define common messages, quality control and prioritization of messages, and resource limitation.
- Healthy foods
Need for better coordination among key sectors (Health, Agriculture, Education, Recreation, private industry); lack of access to fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods in poorer community.
- Active living
Need to build awareness of importance and benefits of physical activity, and long term commitment for supportive environments and education to make active living the easier choice.
- Access to health services
Need to increase access to quality, geographic, economic and culturally appropriate health services with competency in prevention and management of chronic diseases.
- Wellness and health promotion programs
Need to increase investment in supportive and healthy environments where people live, work and play (schools, workplaces, homes and communities), critical cross sector strategies, social and stakeholder mobilization and enabling conditions.
The proposed Border Partners Forum builds on this global and regional initiative convened by PAHO/WHO to establish a strong partnership that will jointly counter chronic diseases.