UN Development Program and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) are evaluating the possible participation of Cuban experts in project management and vector control that could be applied in Barbados and presumably in other OECS countries, as analyzed with the Cuban ambassador Francisco Fernandez, in a meeting chaired by UNDP Deputy Representative, Ms. Lara Blanco, which also included Ms. Sally Edwards, PAHO Environmental Advisor on Health and Sustainable Development to Barbados and OECS, and Ms. Danielle Evanson, UNDP Programme Manager for climate change and disaster reduction.
In a first approach to the subject the importance of undertaking a project at the community level to combat the vector of Chikungunya and Dengue due to the effects registered by mosquitoes in several countries of the subregion was recognized. The Cuban Ambassador ratified the will of his government to participate in a triangular cooperation mechanism, by which specialists would be likely to bring home the full and effective accumulated experience in the fight against these viruses.
At a second meeting, which was attended by invited several directors and specialists from the Ministries of Health and Environment of Barbados, they concluded that it was feasible to develop a project that would include training activities, social communication and evaluation methods as part of confronting these diseases, all of which is moving towards its realization.