A number of health workers were yesterday honoured during a Family Health Conference for expanding the country’s immunization coverage and Region One medex Leola Barnes carted off the award for the ‘Most Outstanding Commitment to the immunization programme for 2007’.
And Region Six took the award for the ‘Administrative Region with the highest percentage of immunization coverage’ (95 percent), a Ministry of Health press release stated.
Meanwhile Region Eight was awarded the ‘Most Improved Region’ while Regions One and Ten were awarded for outstanding work in immunization.
Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy, addressing the opening of the meeting, acknowledged the outstanding contribution of workers in the programme. “There can be no doubt that even with all the constraints, health workers in the Family Health Programme, particularly those who work in Maternal and Child Health, continue to perform extremely well and continue to be the pride of the public health sector,” the release quoted Ramsammy as saying.
The two-day Family Health Conference was facilitated by the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and held at Regency Suites, Hadfield Street.
There have been tremendous strides in the immunization programme, the health minister noted, but unfortunately there is still a small percentage of children who have not been vaccinated fully.
Consequently, he announced that the rotavirus vaccine would be introduced countrywide this year, as well as the pneumoccus vaccine which was introduced in December 2007.
He also expressed gratitude to the Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunization (GAVI) for affording Guyana access to the rotavirus vaccine and many others.
The release said that the meeting will review the performance of the immunization programme in 2007 and regional reports on the expanded programme of immunization. Discussion was also expected to focus on Surveillance, HIV and Maternal and Child Health, Adolescents Services, the Role of Supervisors, the Perinatal Information System and the 2007 Family Health Report.
And during this year the health ministry would formally establish a specialized unit to address women’s issues, as well as set up the Expert Committee on Maternal Health, Ramsammy announced.
This committee would have the authority to conduct investigations into maternal deaths and determine whether further investigations should be carried out, the release said.
