During the Ninth Summit of the Americas, member states made a historic political pledge by committing to the Action Plan on Health and Resilience, which aims to strengthen access to and investment in health services and products in the Americas. As experts and practitioners deliberated on transforming this commitment into reality, they emphasized the crucial need for consistent multisectoral coordination on both new and existing initiatives. They also stressed the importance of addressing equity issues in the implementation efforts, with special emphasis on traditionally vulnerable groups whose healthcare access was affected most by COVID-19: children with disabilities, people with autism, and the elderly. They emphasized the need to develop accountability mechanisms ensuring that national health plans transcend political shifts and provide sustained access to financing to secure their sustainability and resilience. As human mobility across the Americas continues to grow, enhancing intraregional cooperation on technology and digital infrastructure for data and information sharing will be key to addressing climate-related illnesses and other shared health challenges.
