The Caribbean Public Well being Company (CARPHA) collaborated with The Faculty of Veterinary Medication on the College of the West Indies (UWI) for a three-day workshop titled “Identification of Arthropod Vectors of Illnesses of Public Well being, Animal Well being, and Zoonotic Significance,” held from June 10 – 12, on the UWI Faculty of Veterinary Medication campus, Mt. Hope, Trinidad and Tobago.
The intensive workshop aimed to construct the capability of Public Well being Specialists and Veterinarians, from seven CARPHA Member States, to establish widespread arthropod vectors underneath the One Well being Framework.
With Uncared for Infectious Illnesses like dengue fever, Chagas illness, and leishmaniasis, in addition to Transboundary Animal Illnesses like African Swine Fever posing important public well being and meals safety challenges to CARPHA Member States, enhancing the identification and management of those vectors has by no means been extra essential.
Dr Pleasure St. John, Govt Director of CARPHA, highlighted the significance of this initiative whereas presenting certificates to the twenty-six workshop contributors.
“The introduction of Animal Illnesses, akin to ailments attributable to the Avian Influenza virus, continues to pose a risk to livelihoods of poultry farmers, leads to meals insecurity and financial instability of many nations, in addition to heightens the specter of the event of zoonoses which threaten human well being. This workshop is the type of intervention that can make sure the safety of the area. CARPHA and The UWI are eager to implement actions that tackle the threats to One Well being security and safety.”
Dr Karla Georges, Director of the Faculty of Veterinary Medication at The UWI St. Augustine, added, “As a area we’ve the capability to coach our professionals and this workshop allowed additional engagement and growth of robust hyperlinks amongst native, regional and worldwide specialists underneath the One Well being umbrella.”
Prof. Hariharan Seetharaman, Dean of the School of Medical Sciences at The UWI, and Dr Lisa Indar, Director of Surveillance, Illnesses Prevention and Management at CARPHA, additionally attended the opening ceremony in help of this initiative.
The workshop was facilitated by regional and worldwide specialists from CARPHA, The UWI, the Oswaldo Cruz Basis (Brazil), The College of Delaware, The College of Concepción (Chile), and CIRAD. Fieldwork was performed on the UWI Area Station and Maracas St Joseph. Members included policymakers, representatives from Ministries of Well being and Agriculture, researchers, and different public well being professionals.
This regional entomology workshop was funded with help from the European Union underneath the eleventh EDF Programme, supporting well being system strengthening for the prevention and management of outbreaks of Zika and different mosquito-borne ailments within the Caribbean, Boehringer Ingelheim, Centre de coopé ration internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD), the CaribVET community and CaribGREEN.
