One of the strategic objectives under ASHA's Strategic Pathway to Excellence is to enhance international engagement by collaborating with other organizations.
In 2013, ASHA and the Pan American Health Organization Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) launched a collaboration and selected three of the PAHO's priority countries in the Latin American region that self-identified as having a need to address communication disorders: El Salvador, Guyana, and Honduras.
The ASHA-PAHO on-site assessment teams identified the needs of each country and recommended offering educational and service delivery assistance in communication disorders. To meet the identified needs, ASHA established three ad hoc committees composed of ASHA members.
General Objective: To strengthen knowledge and build capacity of professionals and/or organizations that address communication disorders in the areas of speech, language, swallowing, and hearing.
Specific Objectives:
ASHA was a 2018 American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Summit Award Winner for its Country Capacity Building Initiative with PAHO/WHO. This was in the category of The Power To Make a Better World.