Ministers with responsibility for Health in the OECS met in Kingstown, St. Vincent on Friday 11^th September, 2009 to discuss a wide range of topics impacting the health sector in the region. 

The Ministers received a report from the Pan American Health Organization on the H1N1 Flu situation in the OECS and reviewed the steps that have been taken in Member States to address the Swine Flu pandemic.  The Health Ministers also engaged in extensive discussions on the Chronic Non-Communicable Disease (CNCD) problem confronting the OECS and reached agreement on a coordinated and determined course of action to address this very serious issue. 

The subject of HIV-AIDS and the region’s response to the disease once again received focused attention at the 12^th Health Ministers’ Meeting.  The Ministers noted the positive performance of the OECS Secretariat’s HIV-AIDS Project Unit in scaling up the prevention, care and treatment of HIV-AIDS and decided to continue the successful OECS collaboration in the fight against HIV-AIDS, including a regional approach to accessing further funding from the Global Fund for AIDS, Tubercolosis and Malaria and the United States President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).  

The meeting discussed the impacts of the global economic crisis on the health sector and the need to implement social safety nets to cushion the fall-out from the crisis.  It was agreed that Member State Ministries of Health would collaborate with the relevant national agencies to ensure a coordinated, effective and efficient response to the crisis. 

OECS Health Ministers also engaged in discussions with the University of the West Indies on training opportunities available for health sector professionals under the Caribbean Health Leadership Institute and with the HIMA Group from Puerto Rico on the tertiary level health services that may be accessed in Puerto Rico, a Caribbean island with which the OECS Secretariat has recently been developing very strong functional cooperation programmes.  The meeting concluded with an update on an initiative by the Government of Spain to improve the ability of OECS Member States to screen for cervical cancer. 

The 12^th Meeting of OECS Health Ministers was convened by the OECS Secretariat and was held under the chairmanship of Hon. Douglas Slater, Minister for Health and the Environment of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In addition to Health Ministers and other senior health officials from Member States, it was attended by representatives from PAHO, the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC), UNAIDS, UNECLAC, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition, the UWI, CARICOM Secretariat, the OECS Global Fund Regional Coordinating Mechanism (RCM), and the HIMA Group.