CARICOM HEALTH OFFICIALS MEET IN BARBADOS TO CONCLUDE PLANNING FOR HAITI

Chief Medical Officers within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and representatives of regional institutions will meet on Friday 22 January at the headquarters of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency management Agency (CDEMA) in Bridgetown, Barbados to conclude a draft plan for the Community's continued Health Intervention in Haiti after the devastating earthquake of 12 January.

The proposal to focus the Community's assistance to Haiti in the area of health was tabled when CARICOM Chairman, the Honourable Roosevelt Skerritt, Prime Minister of Dominica, the Honourable David Thompson, the Prime Minister of Barbados, the Honourable Bruce Golding, the Prime Minister of Jamaica and His Excellency Edwin Carrington, Secretary-General of CARICOM met on 15 January in Jamaica to discuss issues arising out of the disaster.

The meeting on Friday will therefore seek to determine the mechanisms through which a sustained Region-wide health intervention would be implemented in Haiti. They will discuss the phases of the intervention and the requisite financial and human resources needed to enable delivery of critical health services.

The CARICOM tactical mission that was deployed to Haiti on Sunday 17 January to assess the situation on the ground, will present its findings to guide the regional health personnel in their discussions.

As the efforts to increase the pace of the delivery of aid to the survivors of the earthquake intensify, there is a need for skilled personnel in the area of supply management and logistics in a disaster environment. An additional 26 member team from the CARICOM Disaster Relief Unit of CDEMA, including soldiers, police officers and fire officers from 11 countries was deployed on Thursday 21 January. This team will be added to and rotated as necessary

Offers have been flowing in to the Community's institutions from the diaspora to assist, particularly in the field of health. The latest pledge from Member States and Associate Members has come from the British Virgin Islands which has announced an US$80,000 contribution which brings the total of pledges from the region to almost US$5 million.