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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Dr. Perry Gomez, Minister of Health tour the Pompey Square where HIV Regional Testing was taking place, June 27, 2014. (BIS Photo/Letisha Henderson)
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Nassau, The Bahamas - The Bahamas hasn’t recorded any cases of malaria or dengue fever over the past two years thanks in large part to the work of Public Health nurses and the Department of Public Health (DPH), Minister of Health, Dr. the Hon. Perry Gomez said.
Dr. Gomez said this is an outstanding feat that has drawn very little national attention.
“We are a very well-oiled machine in the Ministry of Health with an excellent Department of Public Health and that’s why our country has been so safe over the years,” Dr. Gomez said.
“We haven’t had dengue or malaria for two years and that’s due to the good work being done in public health – and by public health nurses in particular – the best people in the country.”
Dr. Gomez said surveillance has and continues to play “a very important role” in the Department’s success in detecting and preventing problems.
“Our surveillance teams (comprised mainly of public health nurses) try to detect problems before they surface. We have public health nurses who are on the ground all of the time. They are excellent, whether in New Providence or the Family Islands, and whether it is in the areas of antenatal care; surveillance of outbreaks or prevention of outbreaks, it’s the public health nurses who are at the forefront.”
The Health Minister said public health officials have also been “very, very effective” in keeping the Chikungunya disease out of The Bahamas. Dr. Gomez said a number of protocols have been developed to keep The Bahamas safe.
One such protocol is the spraying of aircraft that come in from potentially affected areas upon arrival into The Bahamas and departure as one of a number of preventative measures.
“Our public health officials have been on top of the disease before it even became public and so I think we have been doing a great job in handling this disease and other diseases including tuberculosis which we have been able to control thanks again to the work of public health nurses and the Department of Public Health.”
Chikungunya fever is a viral illness that resembles dengue fever. It is spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes. The fever is characterised by severe, sometimes persistent, joint pain (arthritis), as well as fever and rash. The primary transmission agent for Chikungunya Virus (CHIKV) is Aedes aegypti mosquito.
Dr. Gomez likened the work of the public health nurses to a police force with outstanding detectives.
“I am in no way discounting the work done by the doctors in the Public Health system, but doctors make their mark in large part when it comes to the curative side of medicine, but preventative measures, that’s where the public health nurses have been outstanding.
“It’s like having good detectives on the ground. The public health nurses do a tremendous amount of work in this country that keeps this country safe and causes us to be the kind of tourism mecca that we are because if we did not have them, we wouldn’t have the tourism industry we have,” Dr. Gomez added.
Dr. Gomez said the Ministry and the Department of Public Health have now made the reduction and/or elimination of chronic, non-communicable diseases that are negatively impacting the country and have reached epidemic levels not only in the region, but globally, a priority.
Dr. Gomez said the negative impacts of chronic, non-communicable diseases, are so debilitating, that the United Nations has planned a session on chronic, non-communicable diseases. The first disease the U.N. met on was HIV/AIDS.
He warned that the shift should not encourage global citizens, including those in The Bahamas, to forego all of the safe practices that have been developed since that first U.N. Meeting on HIV/AIDS and which have led to the decline.
“Because of the work of AIDS Programmes in The Bahamas and around the world, we have been able to tackle the issue of AIDS and it is no longer the high priority that it was. What they (United Nations) did to bring AIDS to the global focus was excellent, and as a result of that, this issue about treatment was taken to a higher level and the prices began to drop for drugs and all of that.
“The issues surrounding CNCDs are a bit more complicated because it’s about lifestyle, but in a different sense, in that it is not sexual but are habits as to how we feed our children or what we allow them to eat that start from infancy that are negatively impacting them.
“That’s really a big contributor to this CNCD epidemic that we have,” Dr. Gomez added.
© Copyright 2014 by thebahamasweekly.com
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