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Remarks of Dr Claudette Harry PAHO/WHO Representative to Trinidad & Tobago Monday, January 10, 2000
Mr. Chairman: Hon. Minister of Health, Dr Hamza Rafeeq; Chairman of the CAREC Council, Pro Vice Chancellor, Prof. Baldwin Mootoo; Miss Denise Jones, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health; Chief Medical Officer, Dr Rawle Edwards; Director of CAREC, Dr. James Hospedales Members of the Diplomatic Corps Representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other government Ministries; Representatives of the Inter-Religious Organization; Representatives of Partner Organizations Members of the CAREC staff; Members of the media; Other Distinguished guests; Ladies and Gentlemen: Let me first of all say how pleased and honoured I am to be associated with the 25th Anniversary of CAREC, an organization, which I have known and valued for over fifteen years in my capacities of a Medical Officer of Health in Guyana, Director of the Medical School at the University of Guyana, and as Health Services Advisor in Trinidad and Tobago and more recently PAHO/WHO Representative in the Bahamas and now in T&T. As you all probably know, the Pan American Health Organization is the longest serving international public health agency in the World, having been established in 1902, ante-dating the World Health Organization by nearly 50 years. When the World Health Organization was formed after 2nd world war, and consideration was given to how to share global health responsibilities, it was natural for the Pan American Health Organization to become the WHO Regional Office for the Americas. This Organization therefore has considerable experience in helping countries to find solutions to improve the health of their people, and in helping countries to work together to deal with problems common to them, and those which need inter country cooperation for their solution. PAHO serves its Member Countries through a network of Country Representations and Scientific Centres, of which CAREC is but one. Dr. Hospedales has just very proudly relayed to you the history, work and accomplishments of CAREC, a pride which is shared by myself and no doubt by all who currently work or have worked at CAREC. It gives me great pleasure therefore to bring you greetings from the Director of PAHO, Sir George Alleyne, who I know is also pleased and proud that the Centre has successfully reached this milestone of 25 years of public health service to the Caribbean. During this time, as detailed in Dr Hospedales’ presentation, the CAREC has served the people of the Caribbean and the countries well, making many contributions to the improvement of health, prevention of disease, and contributing significantly to the process of regional integration.
Although Dr Alleyne is unable to be here at this time, he is expected to be here later in the year for a re-union of past CAREC-TERS, (some of them no doubt true characters) during a scientific seminar, that will look back at the 25 years of public health work, and then look ahead at what is needed to support the public health mission of the Centre. As a Caribbean person, I am also pleased that the occasion of celebrating the 25th anniversary should coincide with the tenure of the Dr Hospedales as the first Caribbean-born person to hold the post. An honours graduate from the Medical School at the University West Indies; a graduate in Community Medicine from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the UK; and a graduate of the US Epidemic Intelligence Service of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Hospedales is well qualified to lead the Centre in further service to Trinidad and Tobago and the countries of the Caribbean as we prepare for the new millennium. He is fortunate in having as his support a staff of which the region can be justly proud. I know this because I have had the pleasure of working with many of them in the past years. Having the responsibility of heading and running a regional organization such as CAREC; having to respond to the needs and demands of several governments is not an easy task. I believe however that Dr Hospedales is coming to grips well with the realities and new challenges of the post. I am making a plea here for the host government and the other member countries to continue and where possible increase the support to this our first Caribbean Director and to the work of the Centre, which, as described, has been of enormous benefit to Trinidad & Tobago and the countries of the region. As you all know the Centre is financed by the member governments with contributions from PAHO. Because of the increasing demands of the countries and the need for ongoing research these contributions are inadequate. Fortunately CAREC has been very successful in attracting a wide variety of partners, which adds considerable value to the member countries, through the mobilization of additional human, financial and information resources to address priority health problems. For this kind of additional support to continue however, the member countries have to continue to demonstrate their political support for the Centre by meeting their commitments to the Centre. Today we are here to celebrate with CAREC the past, and to imagine the future. As CAREC starts the celebration of its 25 years of service to the people of the Caribbean I would like to refer to a remark made by the Honorable Minister of Health, Dr. Hamza Rafeek at the 24th meeting of the Regional Council of CAREC. At that time he indicated that the complex regional health situation, with new emerging and re-emerging health and disease problems that threaten the health of local populations and the tourism industry, re-affirms the underlying need for a Caribbean public heath institution, as foreseen by the visionary leaders of this region, led by Trinidad and Tobago, when they proposed its creation in the early 1970s. The early existence of CAREC assisted a relatively unsophisticated region in dealing with the debilitating impact of major public health problems brought on by diseases such as yellow fever, malaria, tuberculosis, hepatitis and polio. The Caribbean has since realized huge human and economic benefit through the elimination of poliomyelitis and measles. Latterly, however, after decades of decline, mortality rates from some of these early communicable threats have been on the rise, with the relatively new HIV/AIDS pandemic now being the major cause of death in the Caribbean male and female in their most productive years. Just as malaria, yellow fever and measles were major preoccupations of CAREC in its formative years, so today, as the Caribbean has grown and the region has become more complex to manage, the Centre finds itself at the heart of service to countries in such areas as HIV/AIDS prevention and control, and the development of standards to ensure a safe and healthy environment for the preservation and sustainability of the region’s tourism industry. CAREC is a unique institution administered by PAHO on behalf of its member countries and like any proud parent, PAHO is pleased that CAREC has developed as a strong vibrant, organization that is serving the Caribbean well. In recent years, as part of its growing strength and maturity, CAREC has been having good success in pioneering some innovative partnerships, which add value to member countries. One example of this is the Caribbean Tourism, Health and Resource Conservation Project with the Caribbean Hotel Association/Caribbean Alliance on Sustainable Tourism. PAHO has learnt much from these partnerships. PAHO as a parent has a role in supporting and administering the Centre. It does this through:
Over the years, the need for and numbers of international staff have gradually declined as national and regional staff have developed the competencies and skills needed in the Organization. This should be a source of pride, both for PAHO and for the countries of the Caribbean. From the PAHO perspective, that the organization and the region is more and more capable of standing on its own feet; and from the regional perspective that the human and social capital is increasing and being retained in the service of the region. For this trend to continue, I again appeal to the host country and member governments to support CAREC as a vital public health organisation.
As you will appreciate, apart from the host country, CAREC does not have a physical presence in its member countries and is facilitated in its work by the PAHO representations serving those countries. These Representations are in countries ranging from Belize in the north to Suriname in the south, with the Caribbean Programe in Barbados. These Representations are the eyes and ears of CAREC, and assists CAREC in obtaining up-to-date in-country information, organization of training programmes and identification of persons for training, follow-up on programmes and so on. During the six years I had been in the Bahamas, CAREC has responded to calls for investigation of an outbreaks in conch poisoning and in hepatitis A, a case of measles, one of malaria; they assisted in the planning of the mass immunization of the population up to age 40, with MMR, a campaign against rubella; they were involved in the evaluation of the epidemiological surveillance system, in the setting up of the injury surveillance system as part of a pilot study; They have provided guidance in establishment and maintenance of standards for laboratories and I can go on and on. One technical cooperation exercise stands out in my mind which had a secondary effect unplanned by CAREC. This was its assistance to The Turks and Caicos Islands in investigating an upsurge in cases of tuberculosis. Through the PAHO Representation the Bahamas provided a Radiographer to work alongside the CAREC team. From the start of the investigation it was clear that there was need for the upgrading of the Radiology Services, both physically and technically. This exercise resulted in a Technical Cooperation project between Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos for the physical upgrading of those services and training of the staff. But it did not stop there, using the Radiology Services as an example the Pharmacy services were able to realize considerable physical and reorganizational improvements. CAREC of course dealt with the technical improvement of the Laboratory. This example demonstrates the influence of PAHO and CAREC in improving services, building capacity in countries and encouraging technical cooperation between countries in improving the health of the peoples of the Caribbean. At 25 years of age CAREC is still a youth. There is still a lot of experience to be gained and work to be done and I known that with the support of its member countries that it can be done. Therefore let it never be asked of CAREC "where is the beef?" Thank you.
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Caribbean Epidemiology Centre Page last modified 24 October, 2000 |
