7,000 pre-school children already screened for health conditions – Min. Anthony

The Comprehensive Child and Young Health Programme (CYHP) which was launched two months ago, is moving briskly as 7,000 pre-school children have already been screened for health conditions.

This is according to the Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony as he answered questions posed by the media Saturday last.

Minister Anthony noted that approximately 12,000 children will be screened during this round of screening.

“We have about a small percentage more to complete and then once we complete that, we are going to look at those who are now in the nursery and to be able to screen all of those in the nursery and then we’ll go on to primary and secondary,” Dr. Anthony stated.

From the number of children who are already screened, 1,000 children were diagnosed with different types of conditions and they will be provided with assistance from the ministry, which is free of cost.

“The severity ranges, but some of them might need spectacles, others might need a hearing aid, others might need some interventions may be because they have skin rashes, different things, so whatever it is that we find, we then bring them into one of our clinics and we try to resolve the problems that they have,” he further explained.

The collaborative programme by the Ministries of Health and Education seeks to ensure that children undergo preventative checkups to detect any underlying illness or conditions at an early age.

It forms part of a holistic approach to battle the high number of chronic non-communicable diseases in Guyana.

The ministry intends to screen 27,000 nursery-level children by the end of 2023.

This will be expanded to the primary and secondary levels. It is being supported by the Mount Sinai Health System and Hess Corporation, who would have donated equipment and materials to towards the programme.