On October 9 and 10, there was a workshop jointly organized by Mundo Sano, PAHO and the WHO's Special Program on Tropical Diseases Research and Training (TDR).

The workshop, held at Dazzler Tower Hotel in Buenos Aires, was attended by project leaders from Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina, along with specialized teachers. The purpose of the workshop was to encourage cooperation among MERCOSUR countries and to promote economic and feasibility analysis and effectiveness studies in the prevention of Chagas and dengue diseases.

Workshop topics included a conceptual review of health economics focused on disease prevention; a comparison of the direct and indirect costs as well as the effects of the main preventive measures; a review and discussion of cost and effects of current interventions in the MERCOSUR; and a discussion of the process and recommendations for an economic analysis of current Chagas and dengue control programs.

The representative from Brazil was Fabiano Pimenta Júnior, Assistant Secretary and Management Technical Director of the Health Surveillance Department of the Brazilian Ministry of Health. The representatives from Bolivia were Juan Carlos Arraya Tejada, Head of the National Program on Vector-Borne Diseases, and Mirko Rojas Cortez, entomologist from the Chagas Disease National Program, both from the Epidemiology Division of the Bolivian Ministry of Health and Sports. The delegation from Paraguay was composed of Osvaldo Vazquez Leguizamón, Coordinator of the National Chagas Program from the National Service for Vector Eradication, and Blanca Cousiño de Gonzalez, Technical Program Coordinator of the National Service for Vector-borne Disease control. The representatives from Uruguay were Gabriela Willat, Director of the Zoonoses and Vector Division of the Ministry of Public Health, and Yester Basmadjián Chamikián, Director of the Chagas Program and Assistant Director of the Zoonoses Division of that ministry.

The representatives from Argentina were María Soledad Gómez, Manager of the Federal Program on Chagas, and Pablo Orellano, Coordinator of Vector Disease Surveillance and Field Epidemiology Program (FETP), both from the Argentine Ministry of Health. Other participants were fellows Gonzalo Vazquez Prokopec, from the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Claudio Ferigo Finellil and Matías Zitello, both of them from the Fatala Chabén Institute. All of them were accompanied by Mundo Sano hosts Héctor Coto and Marcelo Abril, along with a team of collaborators.

On the first day, Roberto Salvatella, PAHO regional representative, made an introduction on the Regional Status of the Chagas and Dengue Diseases, followed by the workshop conducted by Amparo Gordillo-Tobar.