Washington, DC, January 7, 2026 (PAHO) – The Pan American Journal of Public Health, the scientific publication of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), recently published a special issue dedicated to strengthening primary health care to address noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the Americas.
Objetivo. Caracterizar los alimentos complementarios comerciales (ACC) disponibles en Argentina y México y analizar su alineación con un modelo de perfil de nutrientes y promoción de ACC diseñado y adaptado para América Latina y el Caribe.
Objetivo. Mapear la evidencia disponible sobre los servicios de atención domiciliaria para personas adultas mayores con enfermedades crónicas en América Latina y describir las características de los modelos de atención y los resultados comunicados.
Objetivo. Describir comparativamente la gobernanza y la organización de los servicios, así como la distribución de tareas en la planificación familiar en países de América Latina y el Caribe (ALC), según el nivel de atención y la subregión. Métodos. Estudio observacional, transversal-comparativo, realizado en 2025 a través de una encuesta remitida a ministerios de salud de países de ALC con oficinas de la Organización Panamericana de la Salud. Se analizó (1) la gobernanza y organización de los servicios de planificación familiar y (2) la distribución de tareas.
Objetivos: Analisar a mediação de fatores psicossociais na associação entre controle glicêmico e qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde (QVRS) em diabéticos da zona leste de Manaus, Amazonas, Brasil.
Objective. To define the essential content and design elements for hypertension support delivered by community health workers (CHWs) in Puno, Peru, aligned with the HEARTS Initiative.
Methods. We applied a human-centered design approach to co-create strategies for a CHW-led hypertension intervention through five interactive workshops with 24 CHWs, 32 healthcare workers (doctors, nurses, and administrators), and 18 community members with hypertension.
Yellow fever activity in the Americas Region has intensified over the past two years, with 2025 recording the highest annual number of confirmed cases since 2020 (Figure 1). This resurgence follows major outbreaks reported in 2017 and 2018 and is notable for cases in areas without a historical record of transmission, including outside of the Amazon Region. Preventing further spread of the virus requires maintaining strong surveillance systems, sustaining high vaccination coverage in populations living in high-risk areas, and ensuring a timely detection and coordinated response.
Cardiovascular diseases continue to be the leading cause of death in the Region of the Americas, accounting for more than 2.2 million deaths annually, and pose a critical challenge to health systems, economic development, and social equity. The absolute number of cases has continued to rise, while the decline in mortality has slowed since the mid-2010s, jeopardizing progress toward the goal of reducing premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases by 30% by 2030.
Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of premature morbidity and mortality globally, with hypertension as their main modifiable risk factor. In Latin America and the Caribbean, hypertension affects more than 30% of adults, yet control rates remain alarmingly low. The HEARTS in the Americas Initiative, led by the Pan American Health Organization, promotes a model of team-based care to enhance risk management for hypertension and cardiovascular diseases within primary health care.
To independently evaluate the World Health Organization (WHO) Skin Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) application, focusing on the diagnostic performance of its underlying artificial intelligence model for leprosy detection. The primary objective was to determine the proportion of images in which leprosy appeared among the model’s Top-5 diagnostic predictions. The secondary objective was to qualitatively analyze diagnostic error patterns.
