WHO and PAHO heads are meeting this week with top Brazilian officials, including Minister of Health Marcelo Castro, to assess the Zika virus situation and response.
February 24th, 2016
Washington, D.C., Feb. 22, 2016 (PAHO/WHO)—The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Margaret Chan, and the director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Carissa F. Etienne, are meeting this week with top Brazilian officials, including Minister of Health Marcelo Castro, to assess the Zika virus situation and response.
In their visit to Brazil, Chan and Etienne will meet with President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday, Feb. 23, at the Presidential Palace. They are scheduled to visit the National Center for Risk and Disaster Management (Cenad) for discussions with top cabinet members, including the ministers of health, national integration, defense, foreign affairs, social development and fight against hunger alleviation, as well as the secretary of government and the executive secretary of the Ministry of Education.
As part of their assessment of actions taken by Brazil in response to Zika virus infection and its possible consequences, Chan and Etienne will be in Recife, Pernambuco, on Feb. 24 to visit the Institute of Integrative Medicine Professor Fernando Figueira (IMIP), a clinical research center that is the National Referral Center for Mother and Child Care Programs. WHO Executive Director for Outbreaks and Health Emergencies Bruce Aylward will accompany them.
Chan, Etienne and Castro are slated to hold a press conference on Wednesday, Feb. 24, at 17:00h, at PAHO/WHO headquarters in Brasilia.
Media Advisory
WHAT: Press Briefing on Brazil’s response to Zika virus infection and its possible consequences
WHO: Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO
Carissa F. Etienne, Director of PAHO
Marcelo Castro, Minister of Health of Brazil
WHEN: Wednesday, February 24, 1700h
WHERE: Office of the Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization (PAHO / WHO)
Northern Embassy Sector, Lot 19, CEP 70800-400, Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Brazil
HOW: In person or live on TV NBR,
Web Radio Health: webradio.saude.gov.br/radio or
Twitter/Periscope Ministry of Health @minsaude
Links:
PAHO Zika: www.paho.org/zikavirus
Media Contacts:
In Brasilia, Brazil:
Luis Felipe Sardenberg, cunhaslui@paho.org, +55 61 3251-9581
In Washington, D.C.:
Media team: mediateam@paho.org,
Leticia Linn: linnl@paho.org, +1 202 974 3440
Daniel Epstein: epsteind@paho.org, +1 202 974 3579
Sonia Mey-Schmidt: maysonia@paho.org, + 1 202 974 3036
In Geneva, Switzerland:
Media team: mediainquiries@who.int