WHAT: Border Wide Inauguration of National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW)/ Vaccination Week in the Americas (VWA)
WHEN: Tuesday, April 26, 9:15 a.m.
WHERE: El Rio Community Health Center, 101 W. Irvington, Tucson, AZ 85714
WHY: NIIW/VWA is an annual observance to highlight the importance of protecting infants from vaccine-preventable diseases. This year NIIW/VWA is observed April 23-30, 2011. Tucson, Arizona was selected to be the site for the Border Wide Inauguration.
WHO: Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S-Mexico Border Health Commission, Pan American Health Organization.
Since 2004, the U.S.-México Border Health Commission (BHC) has joined the CDC and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to promote immunization in the United States – México border region in conjunction with the U.S.-focused National Infant Immunization Week, the Mexico National Health Weeks which have been celebrated since 1991 to promote increased immunization coverage throughout México, and with Vaccination Week in the Americas, which is the campaign directed by PAHO that promotes immunizations throughout the Americas.
The mission of the BHC is to provide international leadership to optimize health and quality of life along the U.S.-México border. Its primary goals are to institutionalize a domestic focus on border health that can transcend political changes and to create an effective venue for binational discussion to address public health issues and problems affecting the U.S.-México border population.
This year, the Arizona Department of Health Services Office of Border Health (ADHS OBH) together with the BHC Arizona Outreach Office (AZ ORO) will host the NIIW/VWA border inaugural events for 2011. The ADHS OBH and BHC AZ ORO will partner directly with the Secretariat of Health of Sonora and many other local partners for NIIW/VWA.
Expanding immunization coverage for children along the U.S.-México border supports and advances goals of the Healthy Border 2010/2020 initiative, an agenda to improve health for those living along the U.S.-México border.
The message of Love them. Protect them. Immunize them. will continue to serve as the theme for the celebration of National Infant Immunization Week/Vaccination Week in the Americas. For additional information, please visit www.borderhealth.org, http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw/default.htm , and www.paho.org.
