12th
November 2009
Nat’l
Influenza Strategy Unveiled
Stan Bishop
St.
Lucia yesterday unveiled its national pandemic
influenza strategy amid fears and uncertainties
surrounding the H1N1 virus which claimed the
life of one man last week.
The National Influenza Communications Strategy
– as it is called – was launched
under the coordination of the National Emergency
Management Organisation (NEMO) and forms part
of an ongoing joint initiative among three agencies,
namely the government of St. Lucia, the United
States Agency for International Development
(USAID), and the Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO).
Speaking at the launching ceremony held in the
Conference Room of the National Insurance Corporation,
director of NEMO, Dawn French, said the plan
is an invaluable one that incorporates factors
from other existing strategies that pertain
to pandemic outbreaks.
“The umbrella communications document
for disaster management in St. Lucia is a document
called “Information Management in Crises
and Disasters” and this communications
strategy is a subset (of that plan),”
French said. “The national influenza committee
is made up of almost fifteen agencies and represented
by almost forty people.”
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