Some CARICOM countries to benefit from PAHO agreement

WASHINGTON (CMC):
Seven Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries are to benefit from a new multi-country strategy for technical cooperation in health through 2024.

The strategy was signed between the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts- Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

DrCarissa F. Etienne, second from left at the signing agreement.

“This strategy is your vision of how PAHO/WHO can best support the work of your ministries of health in improving the health of their people,” said the Director of the PAHO/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), Dr Carissa F. Etienne,

“It is aligned with your countries’ national health policies, strategies and plans as well as with established Caribbean-wide health goals and the United Nations Multicountry Sustainable Development Framework for the Caribbean,” she added.

The new strategy is the second agreement of its kind between PAHO and the seven countries and focuses on achieving previously unmet goals while also addressing new challenges the countries face, including health sector reform required to respond to the needs of aging populations, the growing burden of non-communicable diseases, and the health effects of climate change, among others.

PAHO said that the 2018-2024 Multi-country Cooperation Strategy for Barbados and Eastern Caribbean Countries is based on five strategic priorities: strengthening the countries’ health systems to advance universal health coverage and access; reducing deaths and illness from communicable diseases like HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis B; achieving optimum family health throughout the life course; reducing the burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs); and strengthening preparedness and response to health emergencies and disasters while also reducing environmental threats and risks.

“We hope that the priorities defined in this strategy will provide the support you need in the coming years to continue to make your health systems more resilient and to ensure that you achieve universal access to health and universal health coverage, as well as your other national health goals,” said Etienne, who earlier this week began her second five-year stint as the PAHO/WHO director.

PAHO/WHO Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean countries, Dr Godfrey Xuereb, noted that the strategy was developed through a consultative process involving all the countries and representatives from the public and private health sector, other government ministries, nongovernmental organizations, civil society and key development partners.

Etienne said that the PAHO/WHO looks forward to continue working with other agencies and institutions, such as the Caribbean Public Health Agency, the University of the West Indies and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States Secretariat, to improve the health of the peoples of the Caribbean.