Prime Minister Douglas led a high profile delegation to CARICOM

Hon Denzil Douglas

St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister, Dr the Hon Denzil Douglas led a high profile delegation from CARICOM, to Washington today, Monday, 14 June, for the validation of the regional public health sector under a new governance structure called the Caribbean public health agency (carpha).

When established, carpha would combine the functions and administration of the existing five Caribbean regional health institutions: namely the Caribbean epidemiology centre (carec), the Caribbean food and nutrition institute (cfni), the Caribbean environmental health institute (cehi), the Caribbean regional drug testing laboratory (crdtl) and the Caribbean health research council (chrc).

The agency seeks to sensitize several international development partners on the viewpoint, functions, structure and relevance of carpha in responding to the public health challenges of the CARICOM region.

The proposed health agency is expected to become a legal entity by December 2010