PAHO and the São Paulo State Health Secretariat strengthen cooperation on health surveillance and emergency management - Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Commonwealth Secretariat today agreed to renew their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for four years, reaffirming their shared commitment to improving health and well-being across the Commonwealth’s 56 member countries, and strengthening collaboration to address pressing global health challenges. The MoU was signed by the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Hon Shirley Botchwey, and the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The renewed partnership reflects a shared vision to support Commonwealth member countries to build stronger, more resilient and more equitable health systems. Under the renewed MoU, the two organisations will deepen their cooperation in four priority areas:advance primary health care and essential health system capacities for universal health coverage, including through innovation and digital health solutions;address health determinants and the root causes of ill health in key policies across sectors;improve health service coverage and financial protection to address health inequities and gender inequalities; andrespond to climate change by building climate-resilient and sustainable health systems.

designed by isay weinfeld with landscape design by rodrigo oliveira, 111 house features a continuous ring of perimeter planters that filter light and preserve privacy across a four-level são paulo residence. Marilia DBS edited by christina vergopoulou October 19, 2026 2 min prefer designboom on googleVERTICAL PLANTERS ENCLOSE FOUR-LEVEL RESIDENCE IN SÃO PAULODesigned by Isay Weinfeld with landscape architecture by Rodrigo Oliveira, 111 House is a four-level residence in São Paulo, Brazil, created for a family of contemporary art collectors. Positioned on a compact urban plot, the house organizes its footprint along the left site boundary, leaving a lush, full-depth garden strip along the right side. This arrangement allows the primary living spaces, breakfast room, and upper-level bedrooms to open directly onto outdoor greenery, optimizing natural light and cross-ventilation across every level.

Patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often receive systemic corticosteroids from multiple specialties, and that cumulative exposure is rarely tracked in 1 place. At the same time, the options for reducing reliance on oral steroids have grown, with approvals of dupilumab and mepolizumab for eosinophilic COPD and of depemokimab, a twice-yearly anti-interleukin (IL)-5 agent, for severe asthma.1-4 Clinicians outside pulmonology increasingly manage these patients when specialty access is limited. On October 6, 2026, Mollie Chartoff, FNP-BC, a nurse practitioner on the advanced COPD team at Vanderbilt Lung Institute in Nashville, Tennessee, moderated a virtual clinical forum for advanced practice providers on asthma and COPD. Participants included nurse practitioners and physician assistants in pulmonology, allergy and asthma, dermatology, oncology, and interventional pain practices in Tennessee, Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina. The discussion covered biomarkers, oral corticosteroid (OCS) exposure, biologic selection, and access barriers.