The contribution of USD$5.3 million will benefit a total of fifteen Caribbean countries including Trinidad and Tobago. Overall, the collaboration will support increased access to Personal Protective Equipment and other critical supplies to assist countries in their efforts to save lives and limit the human-to-human transmission of the COVID-19 Pandemic, focusing on populations experiencing marginalization or vulnerability, including health care workers.

The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Countries (ECC) and USAID recently assisted the government of Antigua and Barbuda in their fight against COVID-19.

Additionally, as we enter the Hurricane season, the vehicle will also be able to support and respond to other health emergencies and support disease surveillance activities of any new or existing health challenges.

PAHO’s director Carissa Etienne said countries must adjust and coordinate their COVID-19 response based on increasingly detailed data. “Governments will have to make decisions, considering simultaneously health, economic, and social indicators. This will allow health officials to understand where transmission is accelerating, and which groups are at greater risk so as to better target their efforts,” she added.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, and the related school closures, we have seen a rise in violence and hate online – and this includes bullying. Now, as schools begin to re-open, children are expressing their fears about going back to school,” said Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General. “It is our collective responsibility to ensure that schools are safe environments for all children. We need to think and act collectively to stop violence at school and in our societies at large.”

A total of 18 countries interrupted services partially and two closed them completely, according to a PAHO survey. Countries have been urged to implement innovative and strategies and measures to ensure safe care during the pandemic.

“While the majority of infections in the region are reported in big cities, where economic inequality and population density fuel transmission, our data show a concerning trend towards high transmission in border areas.” Carissa Etienne said.

In a message for World Blood Donor Day celebrated every June 14, the PAHO Director Carissa F. Etienne said, “The safest blood comes through voluntary unpaid donation from people like you and me. Donation is an act of solidarity and altruism, which the world needs now more than ever in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“On World Blood Donor Day, I want to offer my deepest thanks to blood donors throughout the Region of the Americas for giving the gift of life,” Etienne said.

The collaboration will primarily support increased access to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other critical supplies to assist countries in their efforts to save lives and limit the human-to-human transmission of the COVID-19 diseases, focusing on populations experiencing marginalization or vulnerability including health care workers.

Fund created to help fight the pandemic and support WHO and partners

The PAHO Director noted, “In South America, our response to the pandemic will be impacted by the arrival of winter, while hurricane season will complicate our efforts in North and Central America, and especially in the Caribbean.”

“This is a problem for patients because respiratory illnesses leave them at greater risk of severe COVID-19 infection. It’s also a challenge for strained health systems that will have to cope with the dual burden of a coronavirus pandemic and a spike in other respiratory illnesses. It does not help that the similar symptoms will make diagnosing COVID-19 even harder,” Dr. Etienne told journalists in a briefing.

The PAHO guidance notes that these groups face singular challenges, such as higher poverty levels, lack of access to some basic services such as water and sanitation, and cultural barriers, including language barriers. Other factors that can increase their vulnerability include health service access barriers, a higher prevalence of chronic diseases, less access to social safety nets, mistrust caused by a history of racism, and high levels of informal labor among members of these communities.

World Food Safety Day emphasizes the importance of safe food in traditional markets and recognizes the role of production chain workers in facilitating a continuous supply of food during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just in the past week there were 732,000 new cases globally, and of these, more than 250,000 new cases were in Latin American countries, “a serious concern that should serve as a clarion call to redouble our efforts,” Dr. Carissa Etienne said at a press briefing. “The situation we face is dire, but not hopeless – as long as our approach to defeating the virus is based on solidarity. We must work together, share resources and apply the proven strategies we have learned along the way.” 

Hand washing and maintaining social distance are the main measures recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to avoid contracting COVID-19. Unfortunately, these measured do not prevent infection by inhalation of small droplets exhaled by an infected person that can travel distance of meters or tens of meters in the air and carry their viral content. Science explains the mechanisms of such transport and there is evidence that this is a significant route of infection in indoor environments. Despite this, no countries or authorities consider airborne spread of COVID-19 in their regulations to prevent infections transmission indoors. It is therefore extremely important, that the national authorities acknowledge the reality that the virus spreads through air, and recommend that adequate control measures be implemented to prevent further spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, in particularly removal of the virus-laden droplets from indoor air by ventilation.

This webinar falls under the cooperation initiatives being pursued by the Summits of the Americas Secretariat within the framework of implementation of the Mechanism for Follow-up and Implementation of the Lima Commitment, with the participating states, Joint Summit Working Group (JSWG) entities, and civil society and social actors.

“During a pandemic, we must overcome the structural inequalities that limit access to services. This means establishing mechanisms that support universal access to health regardless of income, pooling resources with the private and not for profit sector, eliminating payment at point of service and setting up emergency hospitals that add surge capacity where it is most needed.”

En esta guía se presenta información sobre la higiene personal y las medidas básicas de prevención y control de infecciones, así como sobre la forma de cuidar de la manera más segura posible a la persona sospechosa de tener COVID-19 o ser portadora del virus y de evitar que la infección se propague a otros miembros del hogar. Esta ficha será de gran utilidad para el público en general como herramienta para la lucha contra la COVID-19.

En esta guía se presenta información sobre la higiene personal y las medidas básicas de prevención y control de infecciones con el propósito de evitar que la infección se propague. Esta ficha será de gran utilidad para el público en general como herramienta para la lucha contra la COVID-19.

The Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Carissa F. Etienne, asked countries to analyze specific trends in the COVID-19 pandemic according to their unique contexts, and warned that reducing social distancing measures “too soon could accelerate the spread of the virus and open the door for a dramatic upsurge or for spread to adjacent areas.”

In a briefing with journalists, Dr. Etienne also expressed her particular concern for Haiti in the context of the pandemic, and warned of the dangers of a large-scale outbreak in that country, which, added to the difficult situation Haiti is going through, could trigger a humanitarian crisis. “A much broader coalition to address a potential health crisis in this country is needed,” said Dr. Etienne.

Health authorities should take specific steps to protect health care workers and communities during essential immunization activities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, say experts at the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO).