Rewarding Excellence, Encouraging Leadership... » Voluntary Service 

Past Winners

Father Ernesto Martearena and Programas Sociales Comunitarios, Argentina

Father Ernesto Martearena received the Pan American Health and Education Foundation's Clarence Moore Award 2001 for Voluntarism in Health Services

The Pan American Health and Education Foundation presented this year's Clarence H. Moore Award to Father Ernesto Martearena and Programas Sociales Comunitarios for their outstanding volunteer work to improve the living conditions in the ethnic region of Salta, Argentina. Father Martearena was an exceptional leader who carried out programs in the area of public health service, water and basic sanitation, and health environment in rural communities of Salta. He worked with the poor, the indigenous peoples, the elderly and street children. Father Martearena was assassinated last October and the award was given posthumously, on December 18, at the Teatro Municipal of Salta.

A certificate and cash prize of $2,500 were presented on this occasion by Dr. Mirta Roses Periago, Assistant Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to the President of Programas Sociales Comunitarios, Mr. Jorge Alvarez.

"As an international organization, PAHO knew of the excellent volunteer work that Father Marteareana carried out during these last two decades in this diverse community of Salta. With his leadership, he helped to eradicate diseases such as polio, chicken pox, and elevate the quality of living conditions of the people of this region. Unfortunately, I personally did not have the opportunity to meet him, but today we recognize all that he has done in this community. His work is an example for all of us", observed Dr. Roses.

Mr. Jorge Alvarez noted that Programas Sociales Comunitarios serves thousands of people in this region. "Today we can understand and recognize what Father Martearena did for all of us. Daily more than 2000 people receive lunches in the shelters he constructed. We will continue his work, I am very sure we will continue it until the end."

Among national and international health authorities who attended this ceremony, were Dr. Juan Manuel Sotelo, PAHO/WHO Representative in Argentina, Dr. Néstor Nicolás, Operations Director of White Helmets Commission, Dr. Francisco Martini, Chief of Advisors, Ministry of Health, Dr. Abraham Stoliar, Director, National Program for Indigenous Affairs, Dr. Orlando Porratti, Secretary of the State of Salta for Social Development, Dr. Luis Ruiz Huidobro, Director of Environmental Health, Ministry of Public Health, and Ms. Jess Gersky, Executive Director of the Pan American Health and Education Foundation.

Clarence H. Moore, for whom the Award is named, was a distinguished public administrator serving in the United Nations, PAHO, and the Foundation. A man of high idealism and altruistic motivation whose formative years were colored by the Great Depression, he believed that collective action, both through the public sector and on a voluntary basis, could play a leading role in fighting poverty and maintaining human dignity.

As a public Foundation based in Washington, DC, the Pan American Health and Education Foundation raises funds for public health needs in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Foundation works closely with its partner, the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization for the Region of the Americas, to combat disease, vaccinate children, improve sanitation, make safe drinking water available, improve maternal/child care, and expand medical care services, health research and the training of healthcare students and workers.