Kingstown, St. Vincent – The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) along with the Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment will be conducting an evaluation of the Communicable Disease Surveillance System in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The evaluation exercise will begin on October 29, 2018, to November 2, 2018.
The aim of this exercise is to identify strengths and weaknesses in the country’s communicable disease surveillance systems and epidemic preparedness response plans and also to facilitate the development of national plans of action for the surveillance system and strengthening in order to build International Health Regulations (IHR) capacities.
The assessment will include meeting with key personnel in the Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment and visits to health facilities throughout the country. The Team is headed by Dr. Rosmond Adams, Head of Health Information, Communicable Disease and Emergency Response at the Caribbean Public Health Agency and consists of other CARPHA and Ministry of Health delegates.
Dr. Adams informed that this is not a test of a country’s communicable disease surveillance system but is a periodic exercise that CARPHA is engaged in with its Member States. He further stated that this is done in order to ensure that the Member States are well prepared to be able to prevent, detect, and respond to human and animal infectious diseases threats whether naturally occurring, accidentally or deliberately spread