UN to provide multimillion-dollar support for Barbados resilience and child welfare

Barbados is set to benefit from a wave of new United Nations-backed projects worth tens of millions of dollars, as international agencies intensify efforts to boost the island’s climate resilience, healthcare, and child welfare in the face of mounting regional challenges.

Speaking during a press conference on Wednesday at UN House, regional representatives from the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) and the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, outlined ongoing efforts to strengthen the island’s resilience, healthcare systems and youth development amid increasing climate threats and shifting health burdens.

They were highlighting key developments from the UN Barbados and Eastern Caribbean 2024 Annual Results Report.

PAHO adviser for Health Surveillance, Disease Prevention, and Control, Dr Prabhjot Singh, praised the island’s leadership on global health security.

He said: “Last year in the UN General Assembly, a resolution was passed led by Barbados. And taking lead from that, we have collaborated with the Food and Agricultural Organisation and the World Bank to have a project on pandemic preparedness approved, approximately $24 million, that is going to be injected over the next three years… to prevent pandemics across six countries.”

Dr Singh said PAHO was also partnering with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to confront the growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension, and cancer, as well as address shortages of specialised healthcare professionals.

“We are going down to revising the job descriptions of these nurses and doctors so that they can be 21st century, and therefore you can have a better workforce,” he said.

He stressed that all this work was taking place “in an era of natural disasters, of pandemics, of outbreaks” and commended the island’s proactive approach to mental health.

“We worked with Barbados on the launch of the 24-hour Lifeline Barbados initiative,” he said, adding that PAHO had trained over 173 people in school mental health literacy.

UNDP Deputy Resident Representative Stephanie Zaybel said the island had received targeted funding following the devastation of Hurricane Beryl last year.

“In the wake of the devastating effect of the same hurricane, Beryl, on the Barbados fishing sector, we have launched the Barbados Coastal Fisheries Resilience Project, which is supported with funding of approximately US$3 million [$6m] from the government of Japan,” she announced.

“This one-year initiative supports the Government of Barbados’ fishery recovery plan by upgrading infrastructure and building capacity among fisherfolk as a complement to other ongoing efforts to bolster the sector.”

Zaybel underlined the importance of embedding resilience across development frameworks: “We know that shocks will come. That’s why resilience must be embedded in all our development strategies. The ability to bounce back, pivot, regenerate, and anticipate is what will allow the Caribbean to sustain progress.”

UNICEF’s monitoring and evaluation specialist, Patrice Bosso, reported that 6 000 children in Barbados directly benefited from early childhood initiatives last year.

“Six thousand children in Barbados benefited from the Early Childhood Symposium on Fostering Inclusive Environments,” Bosso said. “We are also really proud to have launched the Caribbean’s first online mental health hub, Young Caribbean Minds, which reached over 92 000 users across 12 countries.”

UNICEF’s work in the Eastern Caribbean combined disaster resilience with strong child protection, Bosso said, citing legislative work in Grenada and new climate policy tools developed in partnership with St Kitts and Nevis.

Much of the work in 2024, he said, was not just about numbers but lives transformed: “Behind every number is a story. A child who is safe and protected. A teacher who is well-trained. A community that is more resilient.” (SZB)