– Dr RamsammyWith the aim of boosting the delivery of health care in the Caribbean, efforts are apace to introduce for the first time a Caribbean Public Health Agency.Chairman of the Steering Committee for the Agency, Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, anticipates that the innovative move will be operational by 2011.Minister of Health,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, Dr Leslie RamsammyThe Agency, he explained,NFL Jerseys China Cheap, will incorporate the expertise of institutions such as the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC), the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute (CFNI), the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI),Wholesale Authentic Jerseys Outlet, the Caribbean Health Research Institute and the Caribbean Drug Testing Laboratory.Minister Ramsammy had announced the plans for the Agency last year and had disclosed then that through a two-year transition the five institutions will be combined to form the expansive entity. The completion of the Agency initially had a 2010 deadline but according to the Minister, there have been some delays in the preparatory work.He explained that a proposal for the Agency is yet to be completed and presented to Heads of Governments to secure their endorsement.And this aspect of the undertaking may very well be completed by March of next year,Wholesale Jerseys China, said an optimistic Dr Ramsammy.As part of the continued efforts, he said that the committee has already been addressing the costing factor through a Canadian Consultancy.The Minister disclosed that it has also been decided, and the Government of Trinidad has accepted, to have the headquarters of the Agency constructed there, a project that country is willing to sponsor.In the meantime, the committee is also working on mobilising resources, the Minister said, disclosing that a donor meeting is slated to be held in October.According to the Minister, the notable development will lend considerably to Guyana’s response to public health, which has already been transformed with the introduction of the National Public Health Reference Institute.He pointed out that local health care response is now set to move from a responsive mode of intervention to a more proactive style which is indeed a very ambitious undertaking.With the Public Health Institute in place,Jerseys NFL Wholesale, the Minister noted that the research capabilities of his ministry have now reached another plateau.He revealed that several behavioural survey studies have been conducted and a number of surveillance studies such as the antenatal and the health risk of mobile populations such as that of miners have been undertaken.Additionally, the Minister said that efforts will be made through the Reference Institute to detect the kinds of viruses that are prevalent in Guyana.“We know that HPV causes cervical cancer but we don’t know which geno-type of HPV exists in our country. This is the kind of public health research that we need to complete so that we have a better way of responding to public health challenges in our country. The institute will help us to determine things before they happen so that we can intervene and stop things from happening.”Substantiating the importance of research, the Minister informed that it was through research by laboratory practitioners that a new virus that was attacking humanity in South America was detected.He disclosed that it was for a long time that the symptoms of the virus caused doctors to treat patients for all kinds of health problems such as dengue, yellow fever and malaria to no avail.“They have discovered that it was none of those things and dozens of people have died because of that new virus.”And since the local Ministry is very much aware of the reality of new viruses,Authentic Jerseys Sale, the Minster said that every effort will be engaged to ensure that Guyana remains devoid of such viruses through the Ministry’s boosted research and surveillance capacity.