T&T Joins Global Push To Prevent Animal To Human Diseases

Minister of Health, Terrence Deyalsingh, says this country will be better prepared to address the next global health challenge. He was speaking at the Opening of a Workshop on foodborne illnesses and diseases that can spread from animals to humans, which was hosted by the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank. Minister Deyalsingh shared key initiatives which are being put in place to ensure that this country is ready for the next health crisis. "The Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, just last week, got a Note approved by Cabinet for Trinidad and Tobago to join what is known as the Pred Zone Initiative. What is Pred Zone? Preventing Zoonotic diseases Initiative. It's a global initiative. It's starting its roots. I believe it has about thirty one countries in it so far." Minister Deyalsingh said Ministry officials will soon head to the United States to observe the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's systems to monitor 52 States. "Be viewing their dashboards, be viewing their surveillance systems and hopefully, when they come back, we could implement something so that we could track, surveil, trace, and then when you marry that with the One-Lab initiative, when you marry that with Sepi and the UK Government with their one hundred day initiative, Trinidad and Tobago could be in a better place to respond to, and treat with diseases." Meanwhile, Senior Health Specialist at the IDB, Ian Ho-A-Shu, said key results have already been achieved regionally. "CARPHA's innovative digital mass gathering surveillance system captured information in real time, facilitating successful surveillance and response to threats. Pandemic Fund Grant resources were also used in July when CARPHA acted quickly with emergency response support to Caribbean countries to address public health concerns brought about by Hurricane Beryl." The Workshop brought together representatives from CARPHA Member States as well as experts from the human, environmental and agricultural health sectors.