BASSETERRE, St. Kitts: Dr St John, Executive Director of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), met with St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister, Honourable Dr Terrance Drew, yesterday, January 11, 2023, and briefed the PM on the current situation regarding the regional general public health matters with a specific focus on Covid-19.
Per the reports, the Executive Director of CARPHA, Dr St John, previously received an honorary doctorate of science from the West Indies university, Cave Hill Campus, last October.
The university presented her for her significant contribution in providing navigation to CARPHA’s management of the regions in the Caribbean’s public health response to the covid-19 pandemic.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Terrance Drew welcomed Dr St John with gratitude and shared his thoughts and philosophy in terms of relationships in the containment of respiratory diseases and infections,
along with other public health issues and concerns as per the evidence presented by scientific research. Dr Terrance Drew is a medical doctor by profession, which helped him understand the entire scenario more deeply.
In her remarks, Dr St John, director of CARPHA, has expressed her thoughts regarding her meeting with Prime Minister Drew and called the meeting a pleasure to be engaged in discussion with the honourable Prime Minister.
Dr St John further quoted, ‘’St Kitts and Nevis is very lucky and blessed to have the Health Minister as the head of the Government’’.
she conveyed that Prime Minister was briefly updated about the background of CARPHA and areas of its speciality and capacity building between the Island and regional health agency.
Additionally, St John addressed that the people of the Caribbean need to live, work and play securely in the presence of covid-19 pandemic situations.
The CARPHA has successfully vaccinated the vulnerable areas of the nation to keep them safe and secure. The healthcare authorities have closely monitored respiratory diseases and hospitalizations. Said reports.
During the meeting, The Chief Medical Officer of St Kitts and Nevis, Dr Hazel Laws, was also present at the meeting.
In the end, the Agency rationalizes public health arrangements in the Caribbean regions by combining the functions of five Caribbean Regional Health Institutes (RHIs) into a single agency.
They are the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI); the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC); The Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute (CFNI); The Caribbean Health Research Council (CHRC), and The Caribbean Regional Drug Testing Laboratory (CRDTL).