Guyana’s Ministry of Health signs agreement with IICA to advance ‘One Health’ initiative

Guyana has taken steps to advance the ‘One Health’ initiative with the signing of an agreement with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

The Ministry of Health’s Permanent Secretary Malcolm Watkins and IICA’S Representative to Guyana Wilmott Garnett signed the agreement on Wednesday.

Under the pact, the IICA will conduct evaluations and capacity building in food safety with personnel from the ministries of agriculture, health, and natural resources.

Garnett said the IICA team “will also be visiting, doing some field work after these professionals have been trained, they will be engaging to do some physical assessments and so in the respective regions”.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), ‘One Health’ is an approach to designing and implementing programs, policies, legislation and research in which multiple sectors communicate and work together to achieve better public health outcomes. The WHO says this approach is critical to addressing health threats in the animal, human, and environmental interface.

Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony acknowledged that Guyana has shortcomings as it relates to early detection of diseases and the IICA agreement will assist in increasing the country’s capacity in that regard.

“Health is not something that is just for the Ministry of Health, but it has to be integrated across the board and we need all partners on board if we are going to have a comprehensive system of monitoring for future diseases,” he stated.

CMC/