BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC -St. Kitts-Nevis Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew Friday launched a new Caribbean regional health initiative that he says marks the formalization of a health partnership between two critical regional organizations.
Addressing the virtual launch of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the Council of Ministers of Health of Central America (COMISCA) initiative, Dr. Drew said the collaboration is essential because the Caribbean faces several challenges, including climate change, chronic diseases, and non-communicable diseases.
“The CARPHA-COMISCA Collaboration and Cooperation…is a historic moment, as it marks the formalization of a health partnership between two critical regional organizations.
“The countries in Central America are our immediate neighbors to the north and are usually classified with the Caribbean for many health matrices; Latin America and the Caribbean, so it is only fitting that the collaboration in health is formally established with our lone regional public health agency,” he said.
Prime Minister Drew said that CARPHA is steadfast in its commitment to pursuing an inclusive ‘One Health’ approach, leveraging partnerships to combat health challenges and emergencies in the region.
Dr. Drew, a medical practitioner responsible for health within the 15-member CARICOM quasi Cabinet, said CARPHA’s primary goal is to advance the collective priorities outlined in the Caribbean Cooperation in Health IV and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
“At the core of CARPHA’s strategy lies a comprehensive partnership policy delineating the organization’s vision, methodology, and requisites to foster collaboration. This policy aims to cultivate formal partnership relationships, addressing regional public health priorities and emergencies through unified action and shared services.”
He said COMISCA serves as the regional forum for eight member countries: Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic and is dedicated to identifying and prioritizing regional health concerns.
Prime Minister Drew said CARICOM leaders have already endorsed a regional partnership through the ‘Joint Declaration of San Pedro IV Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Caribbean Community and the Central American Integration System (SICA).
“Therefore, CARPHA and COMISCA’s long history of working together on several issues, including health, education, and disaster management, can strengthen this informal but successful collaboration.
“The CARPHA-COMISCA Collaboration and Cooperation will formalize this partnership and provide a framework for even greater collaboration in the future. This is important because the Caribbean faces several challenges, including climate change, chronic diseases, and non-communicable diseases.”
He said that as the two organizations work to remedy the region’s health challenges, ” we assure the political directorate that we will ensure the needed advocacy for strategic policies to strengthen our health systems through this collaboration.”
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