WFSA spoke at the 77th Regional Committee of WHO for the Americas to call for increased access to capnometry as well as the centrality of anaesthesia to the region’s NCD strategy.
The WFSA delegation was led by WFSA Board Member Faye Evans (US) and Smile Train’s Alejandro Gonzalez (Mexico)
Agenda Item 7.8 – Increasing Production Capacity for Essential Medicines and Health Technologies
The World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA), representing over 500,000 anaesthesiologists in 150 countries including 23 Member Societies across the PAHO region, welcomes the progress report on strengthening regional production capacity for essential medicines and health technologies.
Despite policies that recognise their importance, too many life-saving technologies remain out of reach in practice. A striking example is the capnometer. Capnography is a WHO–listed essential monitoring technology and a cornerstone of safe anaesthesia, critical care, and emergency medicine. Yet, in many PAHO member states, operating rooms and intensive care units continue to function without access to this basic monitor. The result is avoidable harm: unrecognised airway obstruction, ventilator disconnection, and preventable deaths.
The gap between policy and practice underscores the urgent need for concerted action. WFSA urges Member States to:
- Include capnography as essential for the safe practice of anaesthesia in national guidelines.
- Embed capnography and other essential monitors into procurement and supply chain systems, ensuring their inclusion into national and global lists of priority medical devices.
- Remove tariffs and taxes that inflate the cost of importing life-saving technologies.
- Support local and regional production and distribution of affordable, quality-assured monitoring equipment.
- Invest in training programmes to ensure that clinicians are equipped to use and maintain these technologies effectively.
- Establish accountability mechanisms to track the availability of essential monitors.
Closing the implementation gap for capnography is both an equity and a safety issue. By ensuring access to essential monitoring, Member States can reduce preventable deaths, strengthen health system resilience, and advance Universal Health Coverage.
Agenda Item 4.5 – Plan of Action on NCD Prevention and Control 2025–2030
The World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA) represents over 500,000 anaesthesiologists in more than 150 countries, including 23 Member Societies across the PAHO region.
We commend the commitment of PAHO Member States to tackling noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which remain the leading cause of global morbidity and mortality. However, treatment and diagnosis — particularly those requiring surgery and anaesthesia — are often overlooked in NCD policies and plans.
Surgical care is essential to NCD management. Up to 80% of cancer patients will require surgery at some point, whether for diagnosis, curative treatment, or palliation. Cardiovascular disease, the top global killer, frequently demands surgical or interventional procedures supported by safe anaesthesia. Timely surgical and anaesthesia care for congenital conditions such as cleft palate is also critical to preventing lifelong disability and poor developmental outcomes.
We therefore urge Member States to:
- Integrate surgical and anaesthesia services into NCD strategies, including workforce development, essential medicines, and access to monitoring technologies such as capnography.
- Embed perioperative and critical care within universal health coverage frameworks to promote equitable access.
- Invest in capacity building through training, regional collaboration, and data systems that track surgical and anaesthesia services for NCD care.
- Establish sustainable financing mechanisms to ensure affordability of surgical and anaesthesia services as part of comprehensive NCD management.
By explicitly recognizing surgical and anaesthesia care in NCD strategies, PAHO Member States can move from aspiration to action — closing the treatment gap and saving lives across the region.
