The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved today a US$30.6 million regional health project to improve regional coordination and resilience for public health emergencies and extreme weather events in four member states of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
“Countries in the Eastern Caribbean are taking concrete steps to build resilience in the health sector. This regional project provides a unique opportunity for member countries of the OECS to work together to strengthen national and regional health systems,” said Tahseen Sayed, World Bank Country Director for the Caribbean. “As a long-term partner of the OECS, the World Bank is committed to help lessen the overwhelming economic burden that extreme weather events and infectious diseases can place on the people and the region.”
The OECS Regional Health Project will help improve climate resilience of select health facilities in Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The project will also strengthen the capacity of health systems in the OECS region to ensure continuity of services following an extreme weather event, boost national and regional disease surveillance systems to detect and respond to infectious diseases more rapidly, strengthen regional emergency coordinating mechanisms, and support an immediate response to select public health emergencies.
According to preliminary assessments conducted by the Pan American Health Organization, more than 75 percent of health facilities in some OECS countries may not…
