THE Ministry of Health released the sixth edition of the Family Health Manual on Tuesday, which will guide healthcare workers across the spectrum and inform healthcare delivery throughout the country.

The new edition of the manual was launched at the Ministry’s boardroom Brickdam, Georgetown Office, where Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony, noted that it comes at a fitting time as the country’s healthcare sector is currently undergoing major transformation.

According to Dr Anthony, this Family Health Manual has a very long-standing tradition, and they have been working steadfastly to bring improvements to the manual.

He said, “It’s very timely in that the Ministry is undergoing a lot of transformation and we need to upgrade a lot of the things that we are doing to make sure it fits with the direction which the ministry is going.”

What is being seen in the new edition of the manual, according to the Minister, is the compilation of the science that ensures that it can cover care for someone’s entire life course, with a focus on the health of persons in various stages.

The health minister emphasised that the manual’s interventions address crucial points, explaining why health interventions are necessary at that stage and how they should be implemented. He stressed the importance of implementing them on a wide scale, rather than just piloting them.

He added that many of the concepts included have been tried and tested before and have worked in other countries and can be considered best practices.

As a result, he noted that it can move quickly from piloting to getting it to scale and the manual will help the Ministry of Health to do so.

Meanwhile, Director of Primary Health Care services, Dr Ertenisa Hamilton, during her address at the ceremony, stated that the document will be considered to be the main guiding document for how services are delivered for all persons even as she mentioned that policy guidelines are also included.

“Now we use evidence-based principles and practices to ensure that the document is updated and it’s giving a good overview of what happens not just within the context of our country but practices that would’ve been proven in other parts of the world,” she said.

Additionally, Dr Hamilton revealed that the document was not intended to be used in isolation, but should be used together with the package of essential health services.

She revealed that one of the key concepts that needs to be brought to the attention of the users of the manual is that it not only looked at health from the perspective of making sure nobody gets sick but also from a wellness perspective.

Among recent additions to this edition of the manual, she said that when people look at the previous versions, it can be seen that it was very focused on women and children but lacked on the side of men and elderly persons.

However, according to Dr Hamilton, they intended to break that mould and ensured that this edition was more rounded and ensured that services go from cradle to the grave while also looking at equity and gender.

She said, “Everyone everywhere should be having access to the same services at the same level.”

The manual was subsequently handed over to the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Narine Singh, by the Minister of Health and its use for care will be implemented.