President Bush Announces a New Initiative for Social Justice in the Western Hemisphere

President George W. Bush announces a new initiative to advance social justice in the Western Hemisphere.

March 7, 2007 – President Bush launched the Administration’s initiative "Advancing the Cause of Social Justice in the Western Hemisphere" before the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. on Monday. The President discussed numerous new projects in the Western Hemisphere, and he emphasized the importance of the initiative of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a training center for health-care professionals in Panamá that will serve all of Central America. The uniqueness of this training lies in that students will return to their homes to use the skills they have learned, and contribute to the improvement of health care provided for their communities.

The President also announced that the USNS Comfort, a U.S. Navy medical ship, will make port calls in Belize, Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Perú, Ecuador, Colombia, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname. Its doctors, nurses, and health-care professionals, who will include HHS U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Officers, expect to treat 85,000 patients, and conduct up to 1,500 surgeries. The Comfort will also partner with HHS on a new initiative to provide oral care to the region's poor. 

For more information:

• President Bush’s speech: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070305-6.html
• Fact sheet on the President’s Western Hemisphere Initiative: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070305-4.html

Last revised: October 10, 2007