Guyana’s Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence was this week elected Vice-Chair of the global World Health Organisation (WHO) Executive Board during the 71st Session of the Regional Committee.

Minister Lawrence headed Guyana’s delegation to the 57th Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) Meeting and 71st Session of the Regional Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the Americas.

The high-level meeting was held in Washington, DC, from 30 September to 4 October 2019.

Participants probed a number of wide-ranging global issues including strategies and plans to address the multitude of challenges facing the Hemisphere, including reducing heart disease by eliminating industrially-produced trans-fatty acids; making access to organ, tissue and cell transplants more equitable; and improving the quality of care in health services delivery.

The Guyana delegation which also included Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Karen Gordon-Campbell also participated in several events on the margins of the PAHO/WHO 5-day programme including discussions on ‘Response to Ageing Societies’; ‘Mental Health in the Americas’; the Launch of the ‘Report of the Commission on Equity and Health Inequalities in the Americas’ and ‘Addressing Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the Americas’.

The Guyana Public Health Minister also made a presentation on ‘Multi-sector Collaboration to prevent and respond to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Guyana’, during which she took advantage of the opportunity to highlight the Government of Guyana’s efforts to implement several measures, including the Spotlight Initiative which targets women and girls affected by GBV to help improve their overall health and well-being.

The ‘Multi-sector Collaboration to prevent and respond to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Guyana’ is part of a menu of measures by Guyana to respond to a slight increase in local domestic violence incidents.

At the 37th Meeting of the Council on Human and Social Development (COHSOD), which preceded the PAHO/WHO meetings, on September 28- 29, also held in Washington, DC, Guyana’s DCMO, Dr. Karen Gordon–Campbell was also nominated to serve as the CARICOM representative on the board of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS).

Image: DCMO Dr. Karen Gordon Campbell, Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence, PAHO Director Dr. Carissa Etienne and a PAHO official