PAHO marks 50 years of strengthening health emergency preparedness and response in the Americas

Washington, D.C., 28 September 2026 (PAHO) - When two powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela in June 2026, health authorities and emergency responders faced an enormous test. Within hours, regional emergency coordination mechanisms were activated to support the national and international response. Almost immediately after, health facilities were being assessed, medical supplies were mobilized, and highly trained and self-sufficient Emergency Medical Teams from across the Region were ready to deploy.

Fifty years ago, only a handful of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean had dedicated personnel or plans to respond to health emergencies and disasters. In 1976, at the request of Ministries of Health, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) established its emergency preparedness and disaster response program.

"That decision was born from hard lessons. Major disasters across our Region-including the devastating earthquakes in Peru in 1970 and Guatemala in 1976-demonstrated the need for dedicated capacity to help countries prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies", explained PAHO Director, Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, during a ceremony commemorating the Program's 50th anniversary at the 63rd PAHO Directing Council in Washington, D.C.

Today, countries across the Region have national health emergency programs, surveillance systems, emergency operations centers, trained health response teams, and mechanisms for requesting and coordinating international assistance when national capacities are exceeded.

"Preparedness is difficult to value until the moment it is needed. What we saw again this year is that the plans developed, people trained, and systems strengthened before an emergency made, once again, a profound difference when every minute counts," said Ciro Ugarte, Director of PAHO's Health Emergencies Department.

A transformation built one crisis at a time

The 1985 earthquake in Mexico and the eruption of Colombia's Nevado del Ruiz accelerated regional efforts to reduce disaster risks and improve humanitarian health assistance. Repeated disasters also demonstrated the need for hospitals and other health facilities to remain operational when emergencies strike, eventually giving rise to initiatives such as Safe Hospitals and, later, to SMART Hospitals (safe and green).

Hurricanes and other disasters also exposed challenges in managing large quantities of humanitarian supplies. Experiences in the 1990s helped advance SUMA, a pioneering PAHO system that improved the management and traceability of emergency supplies through reliable information and later influenced humanitarian logistics beyond the Region.

New threats brought new lessons. The massive, often uncoordinated international medical response following Haiti's 2010 earthquake helped drive common standards for Emergency Medical Teams, making medical assistance more predictable, timely, and accountable.

Biological threats drove another transformation. Influenza A(H1N1) in 2009, Zika and the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the importance of surveillance, scientific collaboration and regional cooperation, while accelerating capacities for early detection, including PAHO's regional genomic surveillance network (PAHOGen) and enhanced epidemic intelligence.

Over time, PAHO's work expanded beyond responding to emergencies to encompass prevention and risk reduction, preparedness, surveillance and early recovery. As national capacities have grown, so has the Region's ability to mobilize expertise, trained teams and other resources across borders when countries need additional support.

Behind these advances are generations of health workers, emergency responders, epidemiologists, logisticians, national authorities, partners and communities who have built and sustained health emergency capacities across the Region.

"Fifty years of experience have taught us that every emergency also brings an opportunity to learn and improve for the next one," Ugarte said. "Our responsibility is to turn those lessons into stronger national capacities to deal with current priorities and be ready when the next emergencies arrive."

As PAHO marks 50 years of its Health Emergencies Program, the earthquakes and disease outbreaks of 2026 offer a stark reminder that the joint efforts between countries and PAHO in risk reduction, preparedness, and response to health emergencies save lives and protect the health of the people in the Americas.