Mexico, April 23, 2015. The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Health of the United Mexican States, through the Federal Commission for Protection from Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS). The aim of the MoU is to establish a mechanism for strengthening international cooperation in the health field. The MoU will also provide support for the establishment of the Caribbean Regulatory System (CRS) which will be hosted by CARPHA, and will benefit the people of the Caribbean.
The activities of the CRS are related to strengthening the regulatory capacity of the Caribbean and supporting the expansion and rapid access to lower-cost generic medicines.
To formalize the proposal, Mikel Arriola, Head of Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risk (COFEPRIS) and Dr. C James Hospedales, Executive Director of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) on Thursday April 23 2015, signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The MoU was endorsed in the presence of PAHO representative in Mexico, Maureen Birmingham, and Executive Director of the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID) of the Foreign Ministry, Juan Manuel Valle Pereña. This level of cooperation with the Caribbean is unprecedented and gives added value to health policy in the region.
Dr. Hospedales, thanked the Mexican government for their support, and PAHO for their efforts, and stated that “this cooperation will help strengthen the Caribbean’s regulatory framework, remove entry barriers and facilitate access to medicines at a lower cost.”
Countries and territories that benefit from this Agreement are: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos, St. Maarten, Aruba, Curacao and the BES Islands, home to 17.2 million people.
