Saba hosts annual Public Health workshop

Last week over 25 Public Health professionals, Vector Control Specialists, Laboratory Microbiologists and Health Policy advisors from St. Maarten, Curacao, Bonaire, St Eustatius, Saba and the RIVM came together on Saba for the annual meeting on the International Health regulations (IHR). The IHR are a set of agreements between countries and islands to limit the risk of cross border health threats such as outbreaks of infectious diseases.

Some examples of topics that were discussed:
-Solutions to decreasing turn-around time for laboratory results
-Agreements on training for our vector control department
-More collaboration between the islands for outbreak preparedness and disaster training
-Working towards common policies on Zika, Yellow Fever, and zoonoses
-Recent developments for vector control and laboratory diagnostics

It was the first time this meeting was held on Saba, and besides work there was some time in the program to show the (many first time) visitors the beauty of Saba.

NB missing from the photo are Randall Johnson, who represented vector control for Saba during the conference, and the vector control colleagues from other islands.

Public Health Department Saba.