During the 2024–2025 biennium, Uruguay advanced efforts to strengthen preparedness and response to public health emergencies in border areas, within the framework of Mercosur regional cooperation.

Through the Healthy Borders project, implemented under PAHO’s policy on Cooperation among Countries for Health Development (CCHD), health emergency response plans for border areas were developed, simulation exercises conducted, and binational coordination mechanisms strengthened, including along the Brazil–Uruguay border. PAHO provided technical cooperation to support the development of the Brazil–Uruguay Binational Health Emergency Plan, the reactivation of the Binational Health Commission, and the implementation of binational vaccination campaigns as part of joint surveillance and prevention efforts.

These activities contributed to improved coordination between national and subnational authorities and to enhanced operational readiness in areas characterized by high population mobility. Overall, these actions strengthened cross‑border collaboration and operational capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to public health events in a timely and coordinated manner. The initiative contributed to reinforcing regional health security and to protecting the health of populations living in and moving through border areas, in alignment with international health regulations and regional emergency preparedness frameworks.

Photo caption: The Ministers of Health of Uruguay and Brazil at the cross‑border vaccination campaign in Rivera–Santana do Livramento 

Credit: PAHO Uruguay