PAHO donates devices, equipment to increase Region Six health surveillance

The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) on Monday donated printers, central processing units (CPU), and tablets, among other devices and equipment to enhance health surveillance in Region Six.

The handing over took place at the Regional Health Facility in New Amsterdam.

During the small ceremony, Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony noted that it is imperative for the country to have an effective system that helps to track data in the health sector.

“We have started looking at infectious diseases because some of those diseases are what we call reportable diseases to WHO-World Health Organisation. So, a lot of our surveillance system is built around capturing infectious diseases,” he stated.

The minister added that Guyana is aiming to have an advanced surveillance system.

“Having a system just to report when there is a particular outbreak is not what we are looking for, we want a system that can help us in our planning, we want a system that can help us in doing health better in the community,” Dr. Anthony explained.

PAHO Consultant, Dr. Naail Uthman noted that the region has been working assiduously over the past year to provide a well-constructed surveillance system.

“We organised a regional health plan with [the] RHO and from the health plan some key activities were identified and the region requested some support in beefing up their surveillance system. A part of that, is community-based surveillance where we utilise health workers to visit all of the households in specific areas as a startup,” the PAHO consultant pointed out.

Dr. Uthman said this has enabled the region to identify various chronic and infectious diseases in the communities and enhance its health care services.