Guyana Wants Urgent Action to Stem Migration of Health Workers

Text of report by Caribbean Media Corporation news agency website

GENEVA, CMC – Guyana has called for urgent action to stem the migration of health care workers as it acknowledged that the problem continues despite several agreements in the past.

Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, addressing the 61st World Health Organization (WHO) General Assembly, said it was necessary for there to be “some equitable solution to this problem”.

“Developing countries must benefit from their investment in training while not limiting freedom of movement,” he said.

In his address, Ramsammy said that Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) were increasing and accounted for more than half of the global mortalities and morbidity.

He urged the WHO to lead the fight against the NCDs by ensuring that the NCDs were properly placed as a high priority on the global public health agenda.

Ramsammy said that HIV/AIDS continue to “defy our best efforts and our best technologies”.

“We must commend those countries that have responded courageously and have made a significant dent on the transmission of HIV, and still we need a re-energised battle against HIV.

“Guyana has moved to earlier treatment of HIV, providing true universal access – an evidence-informed decision. Clearly the benefits of earlier treatment overwhelm the risk of toxicity from treatment. Guyana is also convinced that we need to promote more provider-initiated testing and that abstinence-only prevention programmes do not work,” he added.

The Health Minister said that access, availability and coverage for vaccines in immunization programmes must not be one of the factors that contribute to the gap between rich and poor countries, between the north and the south and among countries.

“Vaccines must be seen as a global good. A child born in Africa or Asia or the Caribbean or in South or Central America or in North America or Europe has the same right to a vaccine. There can be no dispute about this.

“If every child counts, then I cannot fathom a situation where some children are deprived of vaccines, simply because of where they were born,” he added.

Ramsammy said the WHO must advocate for greater vaccine productivity to meet the world’s demands.

He added that too many were suffering from human conflicts and all human conflicts were ultimately public health challenges.

“These conflicts not only bring great sufferings on millions of people, but diminish humanity, diminish our global aspiration for decent lives for all humanity. Health for all is not possible in a world with conflicts.

“I believe we have the capacity for greater efforts to achieve peace and harmony. We must find the courage to choose peace over conflicts, to choose health for all over political, ethnic, and religious divisions,” Ramsammy added.

Originally published by Caribbean Media Corporation news agency website, Bridgetown, in English 1910 20 May 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Americas. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.