The 33rd Meeting of Caribbean Immunization Managers was held at the Hilton, Trinidad & Tobago, from February 26th to 28th, 2018. The main objective of the meeting was to analyze 2017’s outcomes for the Caribbean Region’s Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) and plan activities for 2018. This forum provided the opportunity for countries to share achievements, challenges, lessons learned and make recommendations for improving the programme within the region. The meeting was attended by participants from 26 countries and territories as well as immunization experts from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the Secretariat of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Caribbean Immunization Technical Advisory Group (CITAG).
Professor Peter Figueroa, Chairman of CITAG, stated that the Caribbean has paved the way in the global elimination of vaccine-preventable diseases through high vaccination coverage and programmatic innovation. He made a call to EPI managers to focus efforts on the vison for the future:
• To sustain the gains by ensuring the legal basis for the EPI.
• To achieve equity in the provision of vaccine services by achieving and maintaining ?95% coverage…at national and district levels.
• To maintain the status of polio eradication.
• To maintain the status of measles, rubella and congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) elimination.
• To maintain and strengthen surveillance for vaccine-preventable diseases
• To advocate for the introduction of newer and underutilized vaccines using an evidence-based approach….
During the meeting, Anguilla was declared the 2017 first place winner of the EPI Surveillance Award for the Caribbean – an award given to countries that have performed outstandingly in the surveillance component of the programme during the previous year.
Nurse Janice Hodge, National EPI Manager and Coordinator of Community Nursing, Health Authority of Anguilla (HAA), received the award on behalf of the Government of Anguilla.
The HAA, Ministry of Social Development and other local actors remain committed the mandate in immunization for the continued success of the National EPI.
– Contributed
