PUBLIC ADVISORY

FROM THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH

AND HUMAN SERVICES

Turks and Caicos – The Ministry of Health and Human Services wishes to remind the public to be vigilant during this influenza season. Seasonal flu outbreaks can happen as early as September, however, most of the flu activity often peaks between December and February.  This is also the most favourable season for other respiratory infectious diseases including COVID19.

Worldwide, respiratory illnesses such as flu and COVID19 result in an estimated 3 to 5 million cases of severe illness and about 290,000 to 650,000 respiratory deaths, particularly among high-risk groups including the very young, the elderly, pregnant women, health workers and those with serious medical conditions. Influenza (flu) and COVID19 are caused by contagious viruses resulting in respiratory illnesses with the following signs and symptoms:

• Fever
• Cough
• Sore throat
• Runny or stuffy nose
• Muscle and joint pain
• Headache
• Loss of taste
• Loss of smell

The Ministry of Health and Human Services is committed to keeping the Turks and Caicos Islands population healthy, and persons are advised to visit the Primary Health Care clinics within their respective communities to receive the influenza and the COVID19 vaccine which are offered free of charge.

The COVID19 vaccine is bivalent which offers protection from the original strain of the SARS-CoV2 and the Omicron variant. It also triggers a response to newer subvariants of the omicron variant.  The bivalent vaccine is available for those over the age of 18 years as a booster. Those aged 16 and 17 years can receive the Pfizer vaccine as the booster.  Boosters are needed to boost immunity if persons have received the vaccine more than 3 months previously as immunity is known to wane with time.

In addition to having the vaccines, the Ministry of Health and Human Services would like to recommend the following health tips which can help to prevent the spread of the infection:

• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.
• Put your used tissue in the waste basket.
• If you don’t have a tissue, cough or sneeze into the upper sleeve or elbow, not your hands.
• Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for 20 seconds or long enough to sing the birthday song twice.
• If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth (germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth).
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick. When you are sick, keep your distance from others to protect them from getting sick too, particularly those who are in the vulnerable group.
• If you or your child is sick with the flu or flu-like symptoms, stay home from work, school and daycare.  You will help prevent spreading your illness to others.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces at home, work, or school, especially when someone is ill.
• Get plenty of rest, drink plenty of fluids, eat nutritious foods, manage your stress and be physically active.
• Everyday preventive actions can help slow the spread of germs that can cause many different illnesses and may offer some protection against the flu.

The best way to prevent the flu is by getting vaccinated each year. Get your Flu shot today!!!

For more information, contact your health care provider or the Health Promotion and Advocacy Unit on 338-2772 or 338-4942.  For information on the vaccine contact the Primary Health Care Department on 338-5469. Please visit the Ministry of Health’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/tciministryofhealth/.

Garfield Ekon

Staff Writer

Haiti, December 9, 2024 – The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is warning that as Haiti grapples with escalating violence and systemic collapse, its children are bearing the brunt of a multipronged crisis that threatens their lives, safety, and future.

UN officials and humanitarian leaders used the ECOSOC meeting last Monday December 2 to highlight the direct conditions in Haiti, where violence has severely disrupted life in the  Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.

They have called for immediate action to support its youngest citizens.

The UN said 5.4 million people, half the population are facing acute food insecurity and 700,000 displaced, urgent international intervention is needed to address a crisis compounded by armed groups violence, economic instability, and insufficient humanitarian funding.

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, who took up his post two weeks ago, spoke of the devastating impact of the crisis on children. “The children of Haiti are displaced. They are malnourished. They live in fear, their neighbourhoods controlled by armed groups.”

The Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Catherine Russell said “we estimate that children account for 30 to 54 per cent of armed group members while the total number of children recruited by armed groups has jumped by 70 per cent over the past year.”

She also highlighted the collapse of essential services, with 1.5 million youngsters losing access to education and healthcare facilities shutting down due to violence and insecurity.

Despite the challenges, UN agencies and partners continue to deliver aid.  Facing a surge in displacement and food insecurity, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has announced an expanded response, targeting nearly two million people with emergency relief.

“We have been delivering record amounts of food assistance to Haitians in Port-au-Prince and across the country these past few months and will do even more in the coming weeks,” said the WFP’s Country Director, Wanja Kaaria.

The WFP also supports local economies by sourcing 70 per cent of school meal ingredients from Haitian farmers, fostering long-term resilience and development.

Yet, the scale of the response is dwarfed by the growing needs as speakers at the ECOSOC session stressed the need for immediate international action to close funding gaps, protect children from exploitation, and rebuild essential services.

UN Special Representative Maria Isabel Salvador, who also heads the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), urged the global community to address root causes of the crisis.

“The challenges Haiti faces are immense, but one truth is undeniable: no progress can be made without addressing the pervasive insecurity caused by armed gangs.  UNICEF and other humanitarian leaders called on the UN Security Council -backed Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission and Haitian authorities to prioritise child protection during operations, ensuring safe reintegration for children recruited by armed groups.

Nassau, Bahamas:  The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), in collaboration with The Bahamas Ministry of Health and Wellness, conducted a mass gathering (MG) risk assessment and implemented the MG event-based surveillance for the country’s upcoming annual Junkanoo Festival[1], and other upcoming mass gathering events.

Mass gatherings can pose increased public health risks and challenges for the host community.  In light of this, CARPHA conducted a training workshop to strengthen The Bahamas’ capacity to identify and respond to potential threats, in “real time”, during the festival.  The MG surveillance training was carried out using the novel, electronic, real time, MG surveillance module, developed by CARPHA and successfully utilised in Caribbean nations, during the recently concluded International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup.

During the launch of the workshop, The Honourable Dr Michael Darville, Minister of Health and Wellness reaffirmed his Ministry’s commitment to implementing proactive surveillance to reduce the risk of disease spread within the population, as well as the significant number of visitors on the islands. Minister Darville acknowledged the “complexities of 12 million visitors coming into a population of 450 thousand” annually and the need to ensure robust and resilient public health systems for the continued economic growth of the country. The Minister also endorsed CARPHA as a key public health partner, saying that the Agency is “a world recognised institution with high-level professionals and leads in many public health programmes especially in tourism”.

Dr Lisa Indar, Ad Interim Executive Director, in her remarks explained the need for elevated surveillance and indicated, “Mass gathering events such as junkanoo, carnival and cricket in the Caribbean are unique and key cultural and economic pillars for all CARPHA Member States (CMS) that draw large numbers of visitors from around the world”.  She added, “visitors no longer just want to be happy, they want to be happy and healthy”.

Dr Indar also spoke about the relevance and benefits of mass gathering surveillance to the overall public health landscape and underpinned the need to ramp-up and utilise the available electronic surveillance tools that will facilitate rapid identification and response to public health threats emerging from mass gathering events.

The CARPHA team presented  Minister Darville with three tablets to facilitate real-time field data entry during the Junkanoo Festival and other mass gathering events throughout the year.  The capacity built from the Junkanoo risk assessment and MG training will be used by The Bahamas’ national planning and coordination team to guide them in developing and implementing relevant risk mitigation strategies and interventions to reduce the festival’s current risks.

This mission was supported through CARPHA’s Pandemic Fund project, which has the core objective of supporting the reduction of public health impact of pandemics in the Caribbean of which mass gatherings pose an ever-present risk.

The launch of the training workshop took place on Thursday 21st November 2024 in The Bahamas.  Attendees included The Honourable Dr Michael Darville, Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Phillip Swann, Acting Director of the Department of Public Health, Mrs. Coral Miller, Deputy Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health and Wellness, Ms. Brenda Colebrooke, Senior Under Secretary Ministry of Health and Wellness and Dr Felicia Greenslade, Officer-in-Charge of the Surveillance Unit. The CARPHA team comprised Dr Lisa Indar, Ad Interim Executive Director, Mr. Keston Daniel, Coordinator, Visitor-based Surveillance and Mr. Mohamed Elsherbiny, Senior Technical Advisor.

About the Pandemic Fund Project:

The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the sole public health agency for the Caribbean region, is the Executing Agency for the Pandemic Fund (PF) Project: RG-T4387, with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as the Implementing Entity. The goal of this Project, which spans from 2024 to 2026, is to reduce the public health impact of pandemics in the Caribbean through prevention, preparedness, and response (PPR).  The objective is to support the reduction of the public health impact of pandemics in the Caribbean by building pandemic PPR surveillance and early warning systems, laboratory systems and workforce capacity, regionally at CARPHA and at country levels. This will reduce the transboundary spread of infectious diseases and improve regional and global health security. CARPHA is the beneficiary of the PF project and CARPHA Member States are the participants.

The PF was approved at the highest level by the Council for Human and Social Development, as well as by CARPHA’s Executive Board and other stakeholders, including Chief Medical Officers. This is a regional 3-year project (2024-2026). The public signing of Technical Cooperation Agreement to implement the project was on December 14, 2023.

 About the CARPHA Electronic Mass Gathering (MG) Surveillance Module:

The MG surveillance module is a product of the CARPHA’s Tourism and Health Program (THP), one of the Agency’s innovative programmes that addresses health, food safety and environmental sanitation (HSE) threats impacting sustainable tourism in the Caribbean through real-time, early warning and response surveillance systems, guidelines, capacity building, HSE standards, policy, advocacy and partnerships.

In 2024, this portfolio was expanded to included mass gathering surveillance given the elevated public health risk these events pose to regional health security. The THP aims to strengthen countries’ capacity to prepare for and respond to public health threats, thereby improving citizen and visitor health, tourism resilience, economic sustainability and the event itself.

With the success of MG surveillance during the ICC T20 World Cup and the endorsement of this electronic system by Ministers of Health in the Region, through the Council of Human and Social Development-Health, The Bahamas recognised the system’s high value and solicited the support of CARPHA to implement and build capacity in MG surveillance for its annual Junkanoo Festival.