Collaboration between regional partners, a highlight of pandemic response

Strong partnerships have been identified as one of the main attributes of the region’s success in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic so far.

Dr Joy St John, Executive Director of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), in a report reviewing the past year, said some of the main factors contributing to the Caribbean’s achievements were strong commitment by governments and collaboration between ministries of health.

St John was delivering a presentation during the opening ceremony of the 65th CARPHA annual health research conference. The four-day event is being held under the theme Pandemic, NCDs and Climate Change – The Caribbean’s Triple Threat.

“I consider the whole of regional action as what has kept us surviving this pandemic with our humour, culture and joy of living in tact,” said St John.

“The Heads of Government made the health of CARICOM citizens a stunning political choice. We have had tremendous collaborations at both the regional and international levels . . . some of the factors for success is first the enduring and effective technical interplay between the chief medical officers of the CARPHA member states who talked nearly every day on social media,” she said.

However, warning that there was no room for complacency, St John pointed out that with the return to cruise tourism and some cruise lines not requiring all passengers to be vaccinated, the speed of vaccine delivery will be critical to slowing the disease and transmission of variants.

“Economic downturn will not be halted if the CARICOM region is plagued by repeated outbreaks in the tourism sector. No one wants a regional lockdown 2.0,” she said.

St John also noted that while the region has been making strides in tackling issues related to non-communicable diseases and climate change, it was nowhere near what was hoped for.

“I am encouraged and amazed by the volume of research done in the CARICOM region during this pandemic. The importance of evidence-driven interventions cannot be overstated. We know that the region is not on a trajectory for achieving the global NCD targets. I hope some of the findings revealed can help us get back on track,” she said.

“The COVID-19 pause was so extreme that research indicated that the noise and air pollution lessened considerably during that time,” added St John.

Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus agreed that an evidence-based response was needed in the region to tackle issues relating to climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and NCDs.

He said: “Although many Caribbean states have successfully avoided widespread transmission of COVID-19, I know the pandemic has hit you hard in other ways such as lower revenues from tourism.

“Even once the pandemic subsides we know that you will still face many of the same health challenges you had before including climate change and non-communicable diseases. Research is central to addressing all of these challenges and WHO/PAHO is committed to supporting you,” he said.

Meanwhile, Didacus Jules, Director General of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, cautioned that while considerable steps have been taken to control the pandemic in the region, the fight was far from over.

Jules, who was speaking as part of a panel during the opening of the conference, said there was need for the region to undertake “a rigorous critique of the situation such as we find ourselves in because this has not been the first disaster and it will not be the last that we face”.

He explained that it was important for the region to examine what were some of the areas that were adequately and correctly addressed and those areas that could be addressed differently in order to find best practices and avoid “failures” in the future.

He said research and the employment of best practices will be critical to addressing the major challenges currently affecting the region, which span climate, health, economic and geopolitical spheres.
(marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)