IOM and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) will sign a
five-year cooperation agreement in Quito today, in which the two
organizations commit to the design and implementation of joint
activities aimed at improving the health and well-being of
Ecuadorians and migrants.

The agreement includes activities designed to reduce infant
mortality, increase equal access to medical services, improve
health conditions as stipulated in the Millennium Development Goals
and increase coordination between the environmental and health
sectors and coverage of basics services.

The agreement also includes psychosocial support for Ecuadorian
migrants and their families who have returned to their country with
support from IOM's Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration
Programmes (AVR).

Since the IOM AVR programmes for Ecuadorian migrants in Belgium,
Germany, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom began
in 2000, IOM has assisted 3,470 persons to return home.

"Permanent and close coordination with national and
international partners, has been one of IOM's principal strengths
in its work in Ecuador," says Alejandro Guidi, IOM Chief of Mission
in Ecuador.

As part of IOM's Northern Border Programme, financed by the US
Agency for International Development (USAID) and carried out in
coordination with the Ecuadorian government, IOM and PAHO have
implemented other joint activities including the construction or
rehabilitation of basic infrastructure and a monitoring programme
to guarantee the continued flow of potable water from the systems
built through the programme.  This cooperation has resulted in
improved health of more than 270,000 local residents and migrants
in the northern border region.

The IOM Northern Border Programme, which began in 2001, was
designed to strengthen communities that receive Colombians in
search of international protection, by building or rehabilitating
basic services, including potable water and sewage systems, and
roads and bridges.  Since 2001 a total of 310 projects have
been implemented benefitting some 450,000 persons.

For more information please contact:

Ana Guzman

IOM Ecuador

Tel:  (593-2)-225-3948

E-mail: "mailto:aguzman@iom.int">aguzman@iom.int