(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean can boast of having one of the highest immunization rates in the world – even better than the United States, and credit for this must go to the Region’s nurses.
Assistant Secretary General for Human and Social Development at the CARICOM Secretariat Dr. Douglas Slater made the point as he addressed the opening ceremony for the Forty-Second Annual General Meeting of the Regional Nursing Body, at the CARICOM Headquarters in Guyana on Tuesday.
Dr. Slater said many people find it unbelievable that the Region’s coverage was better than a country as developed the United States. He attributed this accomplishment to the work of nurses in the region noting that they made a valuable contribution to the rate of immunization regionally as well as in other areas such as maternal and child health.
The Assistant Secretary General said nurses also had a significant impact in areas related to communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCD’s) which would be addressed during the meeting. He said their involvement in enhancing healthy lifestyle promotion which included mental health was also notable and according to him there was a high dependence on nurses to ensure that those issues would remain topical.
Minister in the Ministry of Health in Guyana, Dr. Karen Cummings also spoke at the opening ceremony. She noted that much has been done but a lot more needed to be achieved in dealing with emerging trends and diseases in health including NCD’s. She said the Ministry of Health fully appreciated the intrinsic value that nurses bring to the public health care system.
“We understand the critical importance of investing in human capital necessary to enable our nurses to thrive prosperously in a dynamic health care environment.”
Other speakers at the ceremony included Programme Manager, Health Sector Development at the CARICOM Secretariat, Dr. Rudolph Cummings, Chairperson RNB, Antigua and Barbuda Ms. Elnora Warner and Chief Nursing Officer, Guyana, Ms. Tarmattie Barker.
The four day meeting will review the current status of preparations for the October 2015 Regional Examination for Nurse Registration (RENR) and give guidance on any outstanding issues related to the CXC-managed RENR over its first year. Participants will also approve the way forward for a new Strategic Plan for Nursing in CARICOM and will receive updates on current areas of Regional and global health policy of particular relevance to the nursing community.
