With Guatemalan Vamos party candidate Alejandro Giammattei winning the presidential elections on August 11, his public health advisor, Hugo Monroy, announced that the new administration will prioritize mechanisms with the “Northern Triangle” countries (including El Salvador and Honduras) to make joint drug purchases. Progress in this area is expected after January 14, 2020, when Giammattei takes office.

Monroy highlighted the convenience of a joint purchasing mechanism for medicines with the Northern Triangle neighbors as this would substantially reduce costs, and spoke of the need to agree on a joint strategy to achieve greater bargaining power.

Monroy explained they will seek the expert advice of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop this process and expressed the hope that financial support will be forthcoming from the World Bank (WB).