Executive Agreement 001-2025

This agreement declares a Health Alert for Measles throughout Honduras due to the regional outbreak in the Americas. It authorizes the Ministry of Health to strengthen vaccination programs, epidemiological surveillance, and require vaccination certificates from travelers coming from affected countries as an entry requirement to prevent virus introduction.

Whereas, in accordance with the legal norms contained in Articles 1, 59, and 145 of the Constitution of the Republic, Honduras is a Rule of Law State whose purpose is to ensure its inhabitants the enjoyment of justice, liberty, culture, and economic and social well-being, constituting for such purposes the human person as the supreme end of society and the State, which is why everyone has the obligation to respect and protect it, as well as to participate in the promotion and preservation of personal and community health.

Whereas, the Executive Branch is constituted by: the Presidency of the Republic, the Council of Ministers, and the State Secretariats, the latter being organs of general administration that collaborate with the Presidency whose function is to guide, direct, coordinate, supervise, and control the activities of their respective departments, as well as the exercise of the powers conferred by Law, as established in Articles 246 and 247 of the Constitution of the Republic, as well as in Articles 10 and 36 numeral 1) of the General Law of Public Administration and in Article 16 of the Regulations on Organization, Operation, and Powers of the Executive Branch.

Whereas, as established in Articles 3, 130 literal a), and 177 literal ch) of the Health Code, it shall be the responsibility of the State Secretariat of the Health Department to coordinate all public and private activities in the field of health, as well as to exercise epidemiological control, for which purpose it may issue the necessary provisions with the aim of preventing persons affected from carrying out activities that imply a risk to the community or adopting at ports, borders, and transit sites measures against the introduction to national territory of diseases susceptible to transmission to humans.

Whereas, with the purpose of preventing and reducing the risks of potential disasters, as well as to prepare, respond, and recover from those caused by human activities, the Law of the National Risk System (SINAGER) was issued, which is contained in Decree 151-2009, which was published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta 32,098 dated December 26, 2009, in whose Article 45 is established, in accordance with what is established in Constitutional Article 321, that it shall correspond to the State Secretariat of the Health Department to declare control and prevention measures for the health sector.

Whereas, according to information from the State Secretariat of the Health Department, in accordance with the monthly surveillance data for Measles and Rubella published by the World Health Organization (WHO), as of April 10, 2025, in the 6 regions of said organization, which comprise: Africa, the Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Western Pacific, 188,355 suspected cases of measles were reported in 168 Member States, of which 88,853 (47.17%) were confirmed.

Whereas, on February 28, 2025, the Pan American Health Organization issued an epidemiological alert for measles through which it confirmed 3,098 persons affected by said disease.

Whereas, on May 2 of the same year, in view of the increase in measles cases in the Region of the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization issued a new epidemiological alert according to which, between epidemiological weeks 1 through 23 in the Central American region, 29 confirmed cases of measles have been reported, 28 in Belize and 1 in Costa Rica. And in the southern and northern cone of America, through epidemiological week 16, 2,325 cases have been reported, with the majority of these cases presenting deaths in unvaccinated persons, which represents an increase of 11 times more cases than in the year 2024. For which reason said organization reiterated the call to Member States to intensify epidemiological surveillance actions in areas considered high risk, border areas, the carrying out of prevention, protection, preparation, response, diagnosis, and treatment activities. As well as the maintenance of vaccine reserves and the implementation of activities to intensify vaccination, the strengthening of the planning of said activity, and the increase of efforts to achieve vaccination coverage in reluctant populations and in persons transiting through the countries.

Whereas, by virtue of the foregoing, as well as the health risk assessment related to Measles and its implications for the Region of the Americas issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 24, 2025, according to which it was estimated that the risk for the countries comprised in said region was high, the Health Surveillance Unit under the direction of the State Secretariat of the Health Department (SESAL) analyzed the epidemiological information of Measles disease and declared an Epidemiological Notice and the respective Epidemiological Alert, for the situation related to Measles, in view of the increase in confirmed cases in several countries of the American continent and even in the Central American Region.

Whereas, the declaration of Epidemiological Alert is necessary due to the regional resurgence of measles in other countries, the high population mobility in annual border crossings and at the national level, which according to data from the Expanded Immunization Program (PAI), dependent on the Health Secretariat, according to which, at the close of 2024, vaccination coverage with the SRP vaccine (Measles-Rubella-Mumps) reaches only 78.6% in the first dose and 76.9% in the second dose. Figures well below the 95% required to achieve herd immunity. Information from which it is estimated that there are 171,005 children without any dose and 201,714 pending completion of the vaccination schedule, which increases the possibility of entry of persons carrying the virus or susceptible and the speed of transmission, considering that the virus has a basic reproduction rate (R₀) between 12 and 18 days.

Whereas, in view of the increase in confirmed cases by several countries in the Central American region and with the purpose of implementing the administrative measures that may be necessary to plan and coordinate all public and private activities in the field of health, on February 17 and May 14, 2025, the Health Surveillance Unit under the direction of the State Secretariat of the Health Department analyzed the Epidemiological information of Measles disease and declared an Epidemiological Notice and the respective Epidemiological Alert, related to Measles disease.

Whereas, at the national level, since 1997 and until this date no confirmed cases of measles disease have been detected, however, it represents a high epidemiological risk due to the regional resurgence of said disease in other countries, the high population mobility in annual border crossings. As well as the possible increase in risk of entry of persons carrying said virus due to the fact that in the year 2025 active outbreaks are being reported in several countries in America, with more than 5,340 cases and 4 deaths confirmed, which represents a direct threat to national public health.

Whereas, with the purpose of fulfilling the functions aforementioned, the Executive Branch chief is legitimated to issue the administrative acts that may be necessary, as established in Article 245 numeral 11) of the Constitution of the Republic in relation to Articles 116, 117, and 118 of the General Law of Public Administration.