Kristen Thornton - 11/17/21 – Overview of South America
In South America, there are 12 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Brazil is the biggest
country and has the largest population, with over 212 million. More than 433 million people
live in South America. To compare, the United States has a population of 329.5 million, North
America has a population of 579 million, and the total world population is 7.7 billion. South
America’s population is 5.53% of the total world population (World Atlas, 2021). 55.18% of
South America is fully vaccinated, compared to the United States with 57% fully vaccinated.
Chile has the highest percentage of fully vaccinated, 82%, while Bolivia, 33%, has the lowest
(Our World in Data, 2021).
The Pan American Health Organization is an international health agency for the
Americas, serving as a health agency for the Inter-American System, and as a Regional Office for
the Americas of the World Health Organization. The organization consists of a headquarters in
Washington, D.C., 27 country offices, and three specialized centers in the region. The website
states “The Organization supports countries in surveillance, prevention, and preparedness for
control of pandemic and epidemic-prone diseases through the development of evidence-based
strategies to predict, prevent, detect, and respond” (Pan American Health Organization, 2021).
Not only does it provide surveillance of countries, but also provides surveillance for the region
as a whole. According to the vaccination map of the Americas, 554,191,480 have completed
their vaccine dose schedule. In relation to vaccines, the website states “For more than 40 years,
PAHO’s Revolving Fund for Access to Vaccines, has provided access to safe and quality vaccines
at affordable prices for Member States and Territories throughout the region” (Pan American
1
Kristen Thornton - 11/17/21 – Overview of South America
Health Organization, 2021). It allows for lower vaccine costs, and assistance to national
immunization programs.
The website also has a page for the situation in the Americas, displaying the number of
cases and deaths daily. On November 16th, there were 169,387 additional cases, and 1,499
additional deaths. Another page of the website is the tracker covax initiative, where there is a
chart of central and southern American countries, showing the number of doses delivered, the
number of doses in transit, the buyer of the doses, the supplier, and the status and arrival date.
For example, the United States donated over a million doses of Pfizer that were delivered to
Bolivia on October 23rd. In addition, there is a page full of technical documents relating to the
COVID-19 pandemic. These links include advice on cancer services, contact tracing, the virus
and comorbidities, and infection control in long-term care settings (Pan American Health
Organization, 2021).
2
Kristen Thornton - 11/17/21 – Overview of South America
References
Our World in Data. (2021). https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
Pan American Health Organization. (2021). https://www.paho.org/en/who-we-are
World Atlas. (2021). https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/how-many-countries-are-in-southamerica.html
3