New family manual to better address men, elderly health

Aiming to provide universal healthcare to all Guyanese, the Health Ministry on Tuesday released its newest edition of the Family Health Manual with updated policies and regulations to guide healthcare workers in providing the most optimal care.

During the manual’s launch at the Health Ministry’s Boardroom in Brickdam, Primary Healthcare Services Director, Dr Ertenisa Hamilton provided an overview of the document, noting that it covers healthcare

provision for everyone across their lifespan
“[This manual] looks at every age group along their life course. It takes into consideration the impact of the socio-economic determinants of health, environmental factors and patient safety. And of course, we tried as much as possible to look at some of our key populations that are considered to still be vulnerable, which are Indigenous women and the migrant population,” Dr Hamilton said.
She clarified that this manual does not just look at health just from the perspective of making sure no one gets sick, but more so from a wellness perspective in which practicing healthy habits on a daily basis is encouraged.
In addition to wellness, Dr Hamilton noted that other key concepts included in the manual consider health for the family, equity, gender, universal health coverage and community participation.

With previous editions focusing more on women and children’s health, the Ministry also placed additional attention on men and elderly health in this new manual.
Other new additions include nutrition, rehabilitation, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and domestic violence.
“We use evidence-based principles and practices that ensure that the document is updated. And it’s giving a good overview of what happens not just within the context of our country, but practices that would’ve been proven in other parts of the world,” Dr Hamilton said.
The Family Health Manual uses the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Three as a guiding principle as it relates to good health and well-being.
It also considers and works in adherence to the national legislation including Guyana’s Constitution that deems health a fundamental human right as well as the Medical Termination Act, the Public Health (School Children) Immunisation Act, the Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy and the Vision 2020 and beyond.
The manual is intended to be utilised by every healthcare worker along the spectrum of the healthcare system alongside essential policymakers, and is not to be used in isolation but with the package of essential health services.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony shared that this manual comes at a timely juncture as the Ministry is developing its infrastructure and delivery of services.
“The Ministry is undergoing a lot of transformation and we need to upgrade a lot of the things that we’re doing to make sure it fits with the direction in which the Ministry is going. So, what you’re seeing here is us trying to put the science that we know to make sure that we can cover this whole life course that Dr Hamilton spoke about,” Dr Anthony said.
Encouraging all healthcare professionals to use this manual, he added that this will help them to better intervene at critical points to lead to better life outcomes.
“Many of these concepts that we have [in the manual] have been tested before. They have worked in other countries, they’re the best practices in other countries so we know that they’re working. But we need to move quickly from piloting [programmes] to get [to a larger] scale. I think this manual would allow us to do that,” the Health Minister said.