Pedro N. Acha, 57, a retired director of the Health Systems Infrastructure Office of the Pan American Health Organization, died of cancer Aug. 27 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He lived in Arlington.
Dr. Acha began his career with the the organization in 1957 in Panama. He was chief of Zone III in Guatemala before transferring to the Washington offices of the organization in 1964 as a regional adviser.During the 1970s he was chief of veterinary medical services in the division of human and animal health and the divison of disease control. From 1980 to 1982, he was assigned to the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture.In 1983 Dr. Acha represented the Pan American organization and the World Health Organization in Argentina and was acting director of the Pan American Zoonosis Center.He was named director of the Health Systems Infrastructure Office in 1986 and retired in that job later that year.At the time of his death, he was coordinator for interinstitutional relations at the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture.A native of Peru, Dr. Acha received a doctoral degree in veterinary medicine from the National University of San Marcos in Lima. He received a master's degree in public health from the University of California at Berkeley.He had received honors for his work in veterinary medicine and public health from the governments of Peru, France, the Dominican Republic and the United States.Dr. Acha was a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, from which he received the Gentle Doctor Award and the International Congress Award. He recently received the Golden Cane Award at the 11th Pan American Congress of Veterinary Science.He was the author of the textbook "Zoonosis and Communicable Diseases Common to Man and Animals." He also had been the scientific editor of the journals of Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Animal and Human Health.Survivors include his wife, Juanita Gebb Acha of Arlington; five daughters, Susan Reddish of Baltimore, Patricia Acha of Chicago, Dr. Marta Acha of Albuquerque, Simone Acha of Richmond and Virginia Acha of Arlington, and five brothers, a sister, and two grandchildren.

(Washington Post, Sept. 2, 1988)