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IAPO Latin American Regional Programme
On 24 and 25 August, we held our fifth regional meeting in Latin America, which included a multi-stakeholder seminar and capacity-building workshops. Regional meetings are one of the cornerstones of IAPO regional programmes, in line with the IAPO Strategic Plan 2015-2017. Photos of the event are available here. Official press release is available here.
Multi-stakeholder seminar“Equal access to essential medications is held as a universal human right” - Dr Caroline Chang Campos, ORAS-CONHU
We hosted a half-day multi-stakeholder seminar on Innovation, Regulation and Patient-Centred Healthcare, divided into two panels. We explored how the legislator can contribute to improve healthcare policies, the challenges in financing them, how open innovation systems strengthen the public provision of healthcare, regulation of Biologic and Biosimilar Medicine and personalized medicine. The seminar was attended by more than 70 healthcare stakeholders including patient groups, industry, academia and policy-makers.
Capacity-building workshops“There are many things we can do. Don’t be afraid of doing them. We have to be persistent, and never feel defeated” - Carlos Castro Sanchez, Asociación ALE
44 patients’ organizations from 14 countries in Latin America actively participated in our capacity-building workshops. We invited experts to work with our members on how to generate evidence to strengthen advocacy, evidence-based data management and health technology assessment (HTA), and how patients’ groups can build their national strategy to advocate for involvement in decision-making for regulation in pharmaco-vigilance on Biologic and Biosimilar Medicines.
Our last workshop offered an open-space for members to share about their programmes and strategies highlighting networking, public awareness, communication, advocacy and knowledge management. Finally, we shared information about IAPO strategy, upcoming events and consultations – Patient Solidarity Day, IAPO Global Patients Congress, HTA, social determinants of health, and IAPO representation at PAHO/WHO Directing Council.
The programme and slides of the seminar and the workshops are now available.
We thank our sponsors – ABBVIE, Amgen, Janssen, Pfizer and Novartis – for their support and participation during the event. We thank our speakers for promoting our core value: patient-centred healthcare. It will have an invaluable impact on the development of our activities at local, regional and global levels.
IAPO moderated the third Latin American Summit of Patients’ Organizations
More than 80 patient groups from 13 Latin American countries participated in the third Latin American Summit of Patients’ Organizations on 22-23 August, among them 26 IAPO members. Fabrice Chouraqui, Novartis Region Head of LACan, and Kawaldip Sehmi, IAPO CEO, welcomed them. Eva Maria Ruiz de Castilla, IAPO Governing Board Secretary, moderated the panels.
The summit aimed to provide a space for patient groups to share experiences, acquire tools and share information for enhancing work with patients and eventually improve the welfare of patients in general.
“In fact, at the core of any healthcare system is the patient. We believe that your contribution is essential. You are the voice of the patient. You can ensure that patient’s views are taken into account” - Fabrice Chouraqui, Novartis Region Head of LACan
“Patient-centred healthcare benefits all in society. It makes clinical, economic and social sense to create patient-centred health systems in the Latin American Region” - Kawaldip Sehmi, CEO
IAPO participated to the seventh Latinapso Meeting
During the seventh Latinapso meeting held on 21 August, Eva Maria Ruiz de Castilla talked about the importance of strengthening the patient group network and synergy of teamwork in social organizations.
