Christophe Rerat the sub-regional advisor for the Pan American Health Organisation expressed PAHO’s admiration for the work exhibited by the OECS Pharmaceutical Procurement Services Unit  (OECS PPS) during a recent visit to the OECS Secretariat: “We are very impressed with the volume of activity managed by the PPS. 

They are involved in pharmacovgilence, the fight against counterfeit drugs, price surveys procurement  and other pharmaceutical assessments. They are a very responsible, competent and committed team. They are very well structured in my point of view. For a twenty year old institution they are doing a great job and PAHO based in Barbados for the sub-region is always ready to support such an initiative. They are very dynamic and are following the international standards very well.”

Rerat added that PAHO has been discussing the sharing of best practices and strengthening national expertise relating to pooled procurement, between the OECS PPS and the Pacific Islands Initiative: “Those two blocks of countries are very specific. There are few experiences with procurement in the world and the one developed by the PPS in the Eastern Caribbean is one of the most relevant for sure. We think this is a very good opportunity to extend and share experiences and knowledge between both initiatives in the Caribbean and Pacific Islands. We could work together on harmonisation of the selection process, storage, distribution and maybe issues related to financial mechanisms.”

The PAHO official states that the OECS and Pacific Islands have strong leadership and management skills that are useful to the health sector in each territory: “I think these two entities; the OECS PPS and the Pacific Islands body have strong leadership in their area. They are managed by two charismatic directors and there is a lot we can do with their support.”

PAHO is among the key institutions in a high level OECS antiretroviral or ARV Drug Supply management workshop in June. The OECS Secretariat’s PPS and HIV Aids Programme Unit are organising the meeting.

The panel of experts for the ARV Management meeting will include HIV/AIDS research specialists from Cuba, Suriname, Barbados the World Health Organisation and Management Sciences for Health. Clinical Care nurses, pharmacists, physicians (or Clinical Care Coordinators) and the managers of Central Medical Stores in the OECS will be among those involved in the ARV supply management workshop from June 11th to 15th.The workshop which intends to empower pharmacists on the latest treatment protocols of The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is an international public health agency with 100 years of experience in working to improve health and living standards of the countries of the Americas.

It also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization and enjoys international recognition as part of the United Nations system.