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Public Services
MINISTRY
National and international
coorporation
Department of Security
Planning for National
Development
International Relations Management and its func-
tions:
a) Advise the Minister, other members of the Ministry
and other officials on issues related to international
health.
b) Disseminate international health policies and ac-
tions taken by the Ministry of Health.
c) Promote the participation of the Ministry in inter-
national events inside and outside the country in co-
ordination with the Foreign Ministry.
d) Prepare, in coordination with the Directorate of
the Legal Counsel, agreements and projects with
governments and international organizations in com-
pliance with the rules and procedures, as well as
participate in their subsequent monitoring and evalu-
ation, in coordination with appropriate agencies.
e) Together with the Planning department, determine
needs for external cooperation of the Ministry and
manage its activity in specific programs and projects;
f) Coordinate and support the activities and events
where the Ministry is participating with technical and
financial cooperation agencies at national, sub re-
gional, regional and global levels.
g) Identify and update the registration of external
financial and technical cooperation initiatives and
suggest their use, depending on a need.
h) Maintain the registration of projects and agree-
ments signed between the Ministry, government and
external agencies, and follow them up in coordina-
tion with respective units of the Ministry.
i) Act as a Secretary of the Scholarship Committee in
accordance with the regulations; update the informa-
tion on events and programs that require participa-
tion of the Committee.
These are the main international agreements signed
by the Ministry:
The programs of the Ministry of Public Health are
focused on social support of the Ecuadorian popu-
lation, always serving the community and the most
vulnerable people. Its primary aim is to improve the
health of the population.
Thus, its authorities promote prevention campaigns
and ensure democratic access to care centres.
The Health Program is an essential tool to manage
operational health policies through planning, imple-
mentation and evaluation of health promotion, medi-
cal treatment and recovery.
* Ecuador-Belgium Conventions on “tropical medi-
cine and sexually transmitted diseases in Esmeral-
das”
* Ecuador-Belgium Agreement
* Ecuador-Brazil Conventions on “Support to the im-
plementation of the Human Milk Bank Isidro Ayora”
* Ecuador-Brazil Agreement
* European Convention
Location: All Provinces
Running Time: 2007 - 2011
Budget 2009: $ 175,000 USD
BACKGROUND:
Ecuador is prone to live emergency situations and
natural or even anthropogenic disasters. One reason
for that is that the country is on the “Pacific Ring of
Fire”, the area characterized by a huge tectonic ac-
tivity that produces earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
tidal waves, etc.
Currently active volcanoes such as Tungurahua,
Guagua Pichincha, Cotopaxi, Reventador, Cayambe
and those located in the Insular territory are or will be
potential causes of a rash of varying magnitude, that
would cause harm to the health of affected popula-
tions, especially in the areas of respiratory and eye
vision of people living in villages near volcanoes. It
might also cause negative impact on the environment
and lead to the deterioration of economic factors of
the country in general.
The presence of “El Niño” and “La Niña”(water cur-
rents), strong winter seasons and constant weather
changes are potential causes of numerous health
problems and economic losses the country incur be-
cause of flooding and prolonged droughts.
On the other hand, the rapid growth of communities
and technological advances led to the exposure of
new risks such as accidents, plane crashes, collaps-
es of civil works, chemical spill, wars, pollution, fires
and explosions.
Given the importance of these and other disasters
and the necessity to take adequate preventive meas-
ures, the Article 25 of the National Security Act
defines the Ministry of Public Health as a Man-
agement Authority responsible for mitigating risks
caused by natural and anthropogenic disasters.