Parents urged to support child, youth health programme

Director of Family and Primary Health Care Services, Dr Ertenisa Hamilton has called on parents to throw their support behind the Comprehensive Child and Youth Health Programme, which aims to ensure that the well-being of a child is met through early detection of any potential health concern.
During a message broadcast, the senior health official recognised that through this new initiative, Guyana’s children can be among the healthiest in the Region.
Hamilton voiced, “We believe that a healthy body and mind are essential for academic success. With this programme, we are taking proactive measures to promote the health and well-being of every student, enabling them to thrive both inside and outside of the classroom. To parents, I call on you to give us your support as we work towards ensuring that our children are among the healthiest in the Caribbean and Latin America.”
The Comprehensive Child and Youth Health Programme, which is slated for rollout in the coming weeks, will facilitate oral health, hearing and vision screening for children and adolescents in schools.
Intended to improve the health of school children aged 5-17, the Health Ministry has collaborated with the Education Ministry to launch this initiative among children entering the nursery level. The Ministry aims to screen at least 27,000 nursery-level children by the ending of the year.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony shared that on Christmas Eve in 2022, a newborn from Masakanari (Gunns Village) in the Deep South Rupununi Savannahs was critically ill but with the use of digital tools, doctors from the Georgetown Public Hospital were able to communicate with the community health worker. They were able to conduct a clinical examination and determined that the child needed to be transferred to GPHC. The child is now a healthy eight-month-old.
Without digital technology, this case could have been added to the country’s infant mortality rate, the Minister examined.
As such, he indicated that Guyana is collaborating with several partners such as the Inter-American Development Bank and Pan American Health Organisation to enhance utilisation of digital tools and platforms in healthcare delivery as they map out new programmes.
“When we prioritise connected health, we strengthen healthcare opportunities across all levels, from primary to secondary to tertiary. Investing in connected health, which includes health information, health informatics, wearable medical devices, software, personalised medicine, mobile health and telemedicine, presents an opportunity to achieve universal health coverage and to provide health for all.”
At the core, he identified that digital health tools have immense potential to benefit citizens.
“This initiative aims to upgrade the quality of healthcare and increase the availability of healthcare services to people in the country. Electronic health records will be introduced to bring citizens and healthcare specialists together to promote equality in healthcare and address the human resource limitations,” he added in his message. (G12)