Friday, as part of Tripartite Project Brazil-Cuba-Haiti, for the strengthening of public health system in Haiti, Brazil announced that 13 Haitian professionals specialized in the prevention and control of communicable diseases were selected and hired. An investment of one million U.S. dollars in the project, in financial and material resources to enable the implementation and deployment of epidemiological surveillance in the 10 departments during the next 12 months.

In Brazil, the project is headed by the Ministry of Health and partners such as the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation and the Federal Universities of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and Santa Catarina (UFSC).

The Ambassador of Brazil in Haiti, José Luiz Machado e Costa, emphasized on the importance of the strategy "The production of valid and reliable health information is a necessary condition for the functioning of the health system of a country. This information becomes, in fact, useful for early detection of the onset of epidemics and to plan prevention and control actions of diseases."

These professionals have undergone extensive training theoretical and practical, of a duration of 120 hours on the treatment of 9 priority diseases : measles, rubella, congenital rubella syndrome (CRS), polio, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B and meningitis all preventable by vaccination.

Epidemiologists will be deployed in the 10 departments of country and to the Department of Epidemiology, of laboratory and of research, and Directorate of the Expanded Programme on Immunization of the Haitian Ministry of Health. Professionals will be paid with funds from the Project.

To facilitate the implementation of epidemiological surveillance, the Brazilian government has purchased laptops, printers, mobile phones and 11 vehicles, representing a total investment of 240,000 U.S. dollars. The budget for logistics support is $ 600,000 for a period of 12 months.

These specialists will be responsible inter alia to coordinate the various activities essential of health monitoring : conduct research weekly or daily on immuno-preventive, investigate suspected cases, identify areas of low immunization coverage, contribute to increase coverage, train other health professionals.

Dr. Rock Magloire, Director of Epidemiology, at the Ministry of Health, thanked the tripartite cooperation and stressed that in addition to professional training, the donation of vehicles was essential for the implementation of epidemiological surveillance.

The cooperation also supports the Expanded Programme on Immunization in Haiti, which has encouraged the nationwide immunization campaign against measles, rubella and polio, which took place this year. The Brazilian Ministry of Health has donated to Haiti vaccination program 8.7 million doses of vaccine.

In addition to monitoring activities, the project also develops initiatives to improve health care in Haiti. For example, 3 referral hospitals, will be built, they will will act in coordination with the primary care network as well as a center for people with disabilities.

HL/ HaitiLibre