Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Dr. Jerome Walcott, welcomes the new Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization’s (PAHO/WHO) Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Dr. Yitades Gebre. (C.Pitt/BGIS)

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Dr. Jerome Walcott, welcomed the new Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization’s (PAHO/WHO) Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean to the island.

Jamaican Dr. Yitades Gebre recently presented his credentials at the Ministry on Culloden Road, St. Michael.  He is an Epidemiologist and Preventative Medicine Specialist, with 24 years’ experience in public health leadership and management.

Welcoming Dr. Gebre to the island, Minister Walcott stressed that Barbados was keen to maintain its relationship with the PAHO/WHO, which has been a valuable partner in health promotion.   He outlined that the organisation has provided technical assistance to government in environmental health, communicable diseases and non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension.

The officials discussed plans for PAHO/WHO to make a donation of coronavirus test kits to the island next week. Expressing gratitude, Minister Walcott said the kits would be given to health officials at the island’s ports of entry to screen arriving passengers, who have been to the affected regions.  The kits include primers, probes, and reagents for testing. Dr. Gebre will also be accredited to the UK Overseas Territories of Anguilla, Montserrat and the Virgin Islands, and the French Departments of French Guiana, Guadeloupe and Martinique. 

shamkoe.pile@barbados.gov.bb

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