Inniss praises PAHO/WHO

The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO)/ World Health Organisation (WHO)’s contribution to this island has come in for high commendation from the Acting Minister of Health, Donville Inniss.

Inniss, who noted that “PAHO as an organisation has made a great contribution”, stated that the organisations have “really helped to transform our health care system.”

“A lot of the challenges that we faced back in the ’60s and early ’70s have perhaps even been eliminated or now better managed, but ladies and gentlemen, it is a very dynamic field, the field of public health, and we never know what is sitting on the horizon. If I had to point to a glaring example of sustainability in health care, it is the fact that PAHO has been able to well equip us in terms of the training of staff and use of our support services that we are able now to better prepare ourselves for whatever may come our way.”

His comments came as he addressed the Tree Planting Ceremony to commemorate 50 years of Barbados’ membership in PAHO/WHO. This occurred on Wednesday at the PAHO/WHO Office at Dayrells Road, St. Michael.

During the function, five representatives were responsible for planting five fruit trees on the grounds of the PAHO/WHO property. PAHO/ WHO Representative for Barbados & the Eastern Caribbean Countries, Dr. Godfrey Xuereb explained that significance of the trees and the individuals selected to plant them.

“Why five? Five because we are celebrating five decades of commemoration. Why fruit trees? Fruit trees, because we want to show the fruitful collaboration that has happened over these five decades. Fruit trees, because we all know that fruits are one of the key components of a healthy diet and we believe that the last 50 years have led to the improvement in the health of the people of Barbados. Fruits also contains the seeds for the continued generation from the planted trees and we hope that the work PAHO does is the seed that will continue to grow the health system in Barbados.”