The Ministry of Health, the Health Authority of Anguilla, and the Pan American Health Organisation have collaborated in reviewing objectives aimed at ensuring that the people of the island are assisted in living healthier lives.
A meeting between senior officials of the Ministry and the Health Authority was held on December 1 and 2 at La Vue Conference Centre to that effect. Among other matters, the meeting enabled the officials to review progress in priority areas identified in the National Health Strategy Plan for 2015-2020.
Health Planner, Mrs. Maeza Demis-Adams, said in part: “Over the two days we will have an opportunity to review the dedicated work of our colleagues; discuss problems and challenges, and develop a consensus on corrective measures and actions. It is my aim that, through this review, we will all have a better understanding of how connected our departments are and ultimately to the National Health Strategic Plan. It is the aim that this activity will be the springboard to update the plan to include a situation analysis and provide a clearer picture of where we are and where we want to be.”
She stressed that such an analysis was needed in order to improve the health plan for Anguilla and the professional development of healthcare providers. She encouraged her colleagues that, as they are about to enter 2017, they should keep in mind that they are working for the people of Anguilla.
Chief Executive Officer of the Health Authority, Mr. George Brown, said that during 2016 the healthcare professionals had worked very uncompromisingly to deliver a number of expectations in health improvement. He listed some of the areas as having been health systems development; health services; human resource development and management; family health; food and nutrition and physical activity; chronic non-communicable diseases; communicable diseases; HIV/AIDS; mental health and substance abuse; corporate communication; health promotion; and infras
tructure development.
Mr. Brown said the review would determine how the Health Authority had delivered on its service agreements with the Government of Anguilla for the people of the island, as well as visitors.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Bonnie Richardson-Lake, said the review was timely and was an important matter towards the finalisation of the National Health Strategic Plan.
“Since its inception, the Health Authority of Anguilla and the Ministry of Health have worked closely,” she continued. “In fact, this relationship is critical if we are to work towards providing quality healthcare to the people of Anguilla. It is imperative that we continue to work together and strengthen our partnership to respond to the ever-changing demands on the healthcare system. Our Annual Service Agreement demands this, and our National Strategic Plan guides us how to achieve our goal to provide quality healthcare to the people of Anguilla.”
The Permanent Secretary went on: “We have all worked hard to ensure the development of the plan. But having a National Strategic
Plan in itself is really of little value if we set it on a shelf and don’t look back. If we don’t use it to assess our progress ,and to examine our performance critically, what good is there having a plan? This review also serves to update another on programme activities in the various departments. While we may work closely with each other, often times we are not sure what our colleagues in other departments are actually doing. For these reasons the review is so important.”
During the review the various heads of department and managers gave a comprehensive insight into the functioning and achievements of their particular areas of service, and projections for the way forward.
