Late last year the Country office of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) of Belize, hosted a series of sessions to build capacity and skills for health care providers to respond to major health emergencies in that country.
According to reports, PAHO gathered various stakeholders, agencies, organizations and authorities to participate in an Incident Command Training in the event of a major health crisis.
The Belize authorities said that the Emergency Management and Incident Command System (ICS) concepts “serve as the basis for the emergency response”. However, unlike the typical and traditional response which “organizes assets around a defined scene”, the response was adapted to a large-scale medical and public health emergency where multiple “scenes” may exist e.g. Infectious disease outbreak.
According to PAHO Belize, “Public health and medical professionals must understand the utility of emergency management and ICS concepts as they relate to public health and medical disciplines”.
The report from Belize indicated that the health agenda of the Americas 2008- 2017 encourages Universal Health Coverage so as to ensure that all people have access to quality, effective healthcare.
To this end, the programme would focus on governance and social protection in health. The Belize PAHO Country office indicated that it was committed to the following objectives:
- Strengthening legislative and regulatory frameworks and increasing financial protection for progressive realization of the right to health;
- Organizing people-centered, integrated service delivery;
- Promoting access to and rational use of quality, safe, and effective health technologies;
- Developing human resources for health.
- Strengthening information systems and national health research systems; promoting research for integrating scientific knowledge into health care, health policies, and technical cooperation;
- Facilitating transfer of knowledge and technologies;
PAHO Belize reiterated its ongoing commitment to the transformation of its services to clearly define and understand the importance of building capacity, strengthening its systems and structures so that Belize is able to effectively handle the impact of any emergency.
