Welcome page of RIMSA 16

Ministers of Agriculture and of Health will meet at RIMSA 16        

Ministers of Agriculture and of Health will meet at RIMSA 16, the most important forum in the Americas for defining veterinary public health policies. The 16th Inter-American Meeting at Ministerial Level on Health and Agriculture (RIMSA 16) will be held in Santiago, Chile, July 26-27.

Under the theme Agriculture, Health, and Environment: joining efforts for the well-being of the Americas the ministers will look into the opportunities and challenges of meeting the growing demand for food in an accessible and sustainable manner, while facing the challenge of producing food in harmony with the environment and paying attention to the health of both consumers and those involved in the agricultural-food chain and to lessons learned in the management of risks related to the trinomial human health-food production-ecosystem.

Three major technical events will serve as preparation for the ministerial summit: the 12th Meeting of the Hemispheric Committee for the Eradication of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (COHEFA12), the Sixth Meeting of the Pan-American Commission on Food Safety (COPAIA 6), and the Inter-Agency Forum:  “Toward integrated epidemiologic surveillance”.

PAHO seeks to reinforce the requisite political support for providing the technical cooperation in the member countries aimed at eradicating foot-and-mouth disease, preventing and controlling zoonoses and emerging infectious diseases, and ensuring the safety of food for human consumption, as well as addressing other issues common to both the health and the agricultural sectors.

The Veterinary Public Health Unit/Pan-American Foot-and-Mouth Disease Center (PANAFTOSA) of the Pan-American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) is in charge of organizing RIMSA 16, with the support and under the auspices of the Government of Chile, channeled through its Ministries of  Health  and  Agriculture.

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