|
Dr Jerome Walcott assumed the position of Project Manager for the Caribbean Public Health Authority (CARPHA) on the 1 October 2008, attached to the Caribbean Community Secretariat and has been based at the PAHO-CPC Office in Barbados, in accordance with the MOU between the Caribbean Community Secretariat and the Pan American Health Organisation.
The Scope of work of the Director was presented to and approved by the Caucus of Ministers of Health during its annual meeting in Washington DC 27-28 September 2008. The presence of representatives of the CARPHA Steering Committee, the Project Management Team and the Special Advisory Group at the Caucus also provided an opportunity to plan the next steps in the establishment of CARPHA, in keeping with the decisions taken by Ministers of Health at the preceding Special Meeting of the COHSOD held in Port-of-Spain, 22 July 2008.
During the period of the PAHO Directing Council, a series of meetings between Hon Dr Leslie Ramsammy Chair of the Steering Committee, Dr Eddie Greene and Dr Rudy Cummings, CARICOM and Dr Theodore-Gandi PAHO and the Project Manager were held to review the implementation process and to give guidance to his work.
Dr Walcott prepared a Draft Progress Report of the transition to CARPHA, which gave the background of the entire process, reviewed the functions of the RHI’s, outlined the proposed functions of CARPHA as agreed at the Seventeenth Caucus of Health Ministers and proposed a structure and governance model. The document also proposed two options - a single campus and multi-campuses - for the physical location of CARPHA. In this regard, the Steering Committee following an offer by Trinidad and Tobago and discussions with Ministers of Health recommended the location of the main campus in Trinidad and Tobago.
The document on the proposed structure and functions of CARPHA was circulated to members of the Project Management Team, Steering Committee and Special Advisory Group. It has benefited from several comments and some excellent suggestions, the majority of which have been incorporated into a revised version which has now been circulated to the various committee members and the Directors of the Regional Health Institutions for comment and suggestions on specific areas. These comments which were due by the 31 December 2008, will be collated and will form the basis of a meeting of the Directors of the RHIs, Steering, Advisory and Project Management Groups on 16-17 January 2009.
It is expected that these suggestions will be collated by the PMT and will form the basis for a proposed detailed. This will be the basis for a face-to-face meeting of the Steering Committee, Special Advisory Group and RHI managers scheduled for the 16 and 17 of January in Barbados.
The Meeting is intended to result in the delineation of structure and organogram with the specific number and types of personnel for the various units of CARPHA and in form the basis for a costing exercise to be carried out in phases. The legal aspects and the governance arrangements will also be addressed. The Steering Committee has been engaged in a series of consultations intent on sources the necessary funds for the costing exercise.
The Steering Committee in consultation with the Advisory Group has sought to implement the CARPHA process in keeping with the recommendations of the Ministers of Health (September 2008) and is working toward a Special Meeting of the COHSOD mid-February 2009; presentation of a progress report on the status of CARPHA to the Intersessional Meeting of Heads of Government, 12-13 March 2009; completion of the costing of the structure, legal and governance arrangements by May 2009; final Report on the establishment of CARPHA to be presented to Heads of Government, July 2009.
The Steering Committee has proposed to issue monthly bulletins on the development of CARPHA via email and on the CARICOM and PAHO websites and has also invited the RHIs to carry these bulletins on their respective websites
We take this opportunity to wish you a successful 2009
Leslie Ramsammy
Chair, CARPHA Steering Committee |
