Health Ministry advances “One Health” initiative with new IICA contract

The Health Ministry and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) have signed a One Health Capacity Building Contract for a risk-based assessment for food safety in Guyana.
Advisor to the Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy explained that the Ministry has implemented a strategy on “One Health” in keeping with Guyana’s 2030 vision.

He added that since August 2020, comprehensive efforts have been made towards an effective approach on the “One Health” initiative.
During his brief remarks, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony expressed his gratitude towards the IICA for its continued support in the health sector. He explained that the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need for pandemic preparedness systems that will help in the detection of emerging diseases in early stages.
“We recognise that there are some difficulties and challenges and therefore, ahead of time, we want to put systems in place…I think SARS-COV-2 has shown the reality and why we need to do this,” Dr Anthony shared.
In addition, the Minister highlighted that the Ministry has since received funding from the World Bank amounting to US$1 million in grants to kick-start the “One Health” initiative more intensively. He added that funds would be spent for a joint external evaluation to be carried out as a prerequisite, not only for the International Health Regulations (IHR) but also to participate in the first quarter call for proposals for the pandemic fund that is being offered by the World Bank.
With the hope that Guyana becomes one of the first countries to benefit from this fund, Dr Anthony stated that the fund would be used to ensure that the surveillance and laboratory systems were prepared to detect future and current pandemics. The fund will also be used to conduct the assessment for veterinary public health.
Meanwhile, IICA Representative in Guyana, Wilmont Garnett explained that the approach which the team would be utilising for the “One Health” agenda would be to collaborate technicians from the Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources Ministries, to have comprehensive discussions on the project.
He added that the agenda would have components on monitoring and evaluation which would see the team performing field work after being trained. They would be engaged in physical assessment in their respective regions.
“The approach with “One Health” is that we will be bringing technicians from the Ministries all under one roof at the same time and we will be rolling out the discussion on what One Health is, collectively what is it we can do for Guyana…Our team will also be doing some field work,” Garnett underscored.
Among those present at the signing ceremony were Health Ministry Permanent Secretary Malcolm Watkins, Health Sectors Development Unit Director Sonia Roberts, and Agricultural Health Specialist Maxine Parris-Aaron. (G12)