TO DEEPEN regional cooperation in the fields of health and education, the ministers of the Caribbean Community will meet over two days in Montego Bay, Jamaica next week to focus on new strategies to advance implementation of programmes in those vital social sectors…

The June 3-4 meeting of the CARICOM Council for Human and Social Development (COSHOD), will have as its central theme “Winds of Change: Education and Health Collaboration to Advance Human and Social Development”.

It will be followed by a meeting with their Latin American counterparts from June 5-6 in preparation for a conference of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (COSHOD).

The Community Secretariat has explained that the CARICOM Health and Education Ministers will discuss specific problems and challenges being faced in their respective sectors.

In the case of education, the spotlight will be on implementation of the ‘regional accreditation mechanism”; plans for operationalising vocational and technical education, including the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ), as well as the “under-achievement of boys in education” and new directions in teacher education..

In relation to the health sector, the Secretariat said that the primary focus will be on finalising proposals for the creation of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), with the objective of rationalising the public heallth functions currently being undertaken by five Regional Health Institutions.

Other agenda issues for the June 3-4 meeting at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, will include follow-up actions from the 2007 Port-of-Spain Declaration on the battle against chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs); preparation for the second annual ‘CARICOM Wellness Day”, scheduled for September 12 this year; and reviewing the implementation status of the Pan-Caribbean Partnerships’ Regional Strategic Plan for HIV.

The June 5-6 meeting between CARICOM Health and Education Ministers and their Latin American counterparts is being co-sponsored by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).

This will be a follow-up to a Regional Forum held in July 2008 in Mexico on the role of education and Health in the fight against HIV, and comes ahead of the UN Economic and Social Council ministerial review meeting in September in Geneva.