Fiocruz and WHO hold a meeting to align cooperation and emergency response actions

Fiocruz, the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) held a meeting last Wednesday (7/31) at the Foundation's campus in Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, to align response, surveillance, and cooperation actions in response to health emergencies. The meeting brought together leaders from Fiocruz and directors of the WHO Health Emergencies Program and took place after the Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit, which ended last Tuesday and brought together global health leaders. The exchange of knowledge to prevent, prepare, and respond to health emergencies; increase collaboration, strengthening bonds among Fiocruz, WHO, and their regional offices to improve coordination of actions; and address investment and resources to put into operation action plans and ensure effective implementation of health emergency strategies were among the goals of the meeting, of which the theme was global strengthening for emergency response.

The WHO delegation was received at the Fiocruz Moorish Castle (Photo: Peter Ilicciev)

The president of Fiocruz, Mário Moreira, received the group at the Castelo Mourisco. He stressed the importance of the meeting: “I'm very confident that we'll leave here with an action plan for cooperation. We, at Fiocruz, have a wide range of possibilities and areas for cooperation to improve emergency preparedness and response,” he said. 

For the first time at Fiocruz, the executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, Mike Ryan, had the opportunity to visit the Institute of Immunobiological Technology (Bio-Manguinhos/Fiocruz), Unadig (Diagnostic Support Unit) and the Hospital Unit of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (INI/Fiocruz). He pointed out that institutions like Fiocruz make a difference in terms of research, innovation, and leadership on the global stage. “Much of the world doesn't have an institution like this,” he said. “When we're in Geneva, we're worried about how much there's to do, what's not being done. But in institutions like Fiocruz you know that the work is being done.”

PAHO was represented by its Director of Health Emergencies, Ciro Ugarte, who pointed out the many partnerships underway with Brazil and Fiocruz, emphasizing the importance of cooperation in the region: “We are a team, and we are happy to share goals, which, in the end, bring results for all Member States.” During the meeting, the participants emphasized, from various perspectives, the need for cooperation in dealing with health crises and emergencies. “The contributions we make (in terms of WHO) are not enough sometimes, so we need everyone together. This meeting is proof that together we can go further,” said Ugarte. “There are lessons learned from Brazil that we can show the world.”

Science and politics

The vice-president of Research and Biological Collections at Fiocruz (VPRBC/Fiocruz), Maria de Lourdes Oliveira, opened the meeting and gave an institutional presentation of the Foundation, in which she presented the complexity of the institution and possible areas of cooperation. “Collaboration, trust, commitment, and democracy are part of our history” she emphasized, opening a dialog on the need for cooperation in response to emergencies.

The Secretary for Health and Environmental Surveillance at the Ministry of Health, Ethel Maciel, pointed out how health is valued by the government and is an integral part of the country's democratic scope, a right guaranteed in the Constitution. Turning to the subject of cooperation and the global scenario, she stressed that the current government represents a “paradigm shift” in which “Brazil wants to look more outwards, with more collaboration and partnerships. Brazil is not only back, Brazil is at the table and wants to be part of the decision-making process," she concluded. 

Mike Ryan noted that it is a challenge to establish a good relationship between science and politics. According to the WHO executive director, science and politics should be symbiotic and not competing.