GIU – Montserrat has received first place in the Surveillance and Immunization Awards given by the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC).
Nurse Violet Brown, Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) Manager for the Ministry of Health represented Montserrat at the 27th Caribbean Meeting of EPI Managers held November 15 to 19 in the Cayman Islands. She accepted the recognition at the award ceremony.
Nurse Brown said she was “elated” at Montserrat winning the award, adding that it was another milestone that all should be proud of.
The annual Surveillance award was established to recognise countries that have performed outstandingly on the surveillance component of their programme during the previous year. The award is based on two main criteria, which are: on time reporting to CAREC and the ability of the country to achieve their national goals and targets for vaccine preventable diseases.
“The main diseases under surveillance are measles and polio. Montserrat has 12 sentinel sites reporting on a weekly basis to the epidemiologist for onward submission to CAREC,” explained Brown. The sentinel sites are the hospital laboratory, casualty, four health centres and the private doctors.
The award consists of a certificate and the inscription of the name of the country on a plaque that is kept by the winning country until the following year. Montserrat placed third in 2006 and second in 2009 for the Surveillance Award.
Other winners this year were Belize in second place and Suriname, third.
ENDS
Photo – Courtesy GIU: Nurse Violet Brown, Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) Manager for the Ministry of Health shows the first place plaque for the Surveillance Award received during the 27th Caribbean Meeting of EPI Managers held November 15 to 19 in the Cayman Islands. (GIU Photo)
