By Camille Bethel From Trinidad Express

The Caribbean Public Health Agency (Carpha) has officially been launched.

The Agency, which has been in the making for the past decade, will seek to look after the health of the region’s people.

It was launched on Wednesday (3) at the National Academy for the Performing Arts, Port of Spain, where Dr Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis and Caricom Lead—Human Resources, Health, HIV and AIDS, described Carpha as a fitting response to the challenge that Caricom is currently facing.

“This launch is taking place at a time when Caricom is groping for initiatives that build on the foundations laid down by the founding fathers–who dared to inspire the re-engagement of a Caribbean nation out of the ashes of a failed federal experiment.

“It is taking place at a time when we are seeking to identify landmarks that build on the institutional arrangements so clearly enunciated in the Treaty of Chaguaramas that made bold provisions for knitting the economic, social and political fabric of our individual nation states into a dynamic, competitive and cohesive regional collective,” said Douglas.

“Most of all Carpha is a fitting response to the challenge of our time to demonstrate that the Caribbean is capable of redefining and redesigning its institutions to better serve the people of the region.”

Douglas said he is pleased with the vision of Carpha’s executive director Dr James Hospedales for promoting centres of innovation in its business plan, as well as highlighting its laboratory and surveillance functions, quality control and drug regulations, research and environmental health.

“The alignment with Carpha’s business with the tourism sector, climate change and training in public health leadership is a further demonstration of the creative culture that is being nurtured. This could only auger well for the future of the region,” he added.

Douglas said Caricom heads of government approved the establishment of Carpha mainly because there was an “overwhelming burden of evidence and the recommendations” from discussions and debates carried out by the ministers, chief medical officers and other experts throughout the region that it was necessary to consolidate the five regional health institutions into one agency.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Caribbean-Public-Health-Agency-launched-214332141.html