Regional Health Care Workers empowered by Perinatal Conference

Bridgetown, Barbados – 24 February 2025 (PAHO) – More than seventy health care workers and health managers from Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Countries (ECC) have benefitted from a conference to enhance the medical care provided to mothers and their babies.

The two-day conference ‘Improving Perinatal Care in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean’ was dedicated to planning and implementing a regional approach to prevention, services, interventions, and policies, as it relates to perinatal care. Perinatal refers to the period from the start of a pregnancy until the end of a baby’s first year.

This is the second edition of the perinatal health care conference planned to achieve the following objectives:

• Review and reassess the present state of neonatal care in the region post-pandemic and since the last perinatal conference hosted in 2019.
• Present and assess individual and shared challenges in neonatal care facing health centres in the Eastern Caribbean.
• Share updated tools and strategies for improving neonatal care throughout the region.

Participants heard from organisers of the conference – World Pediatrics, Rotary International and the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO).

During the remarks of Vafa Akhavan, Chief Executive Officer of World Pediatrics, it was lamented that globally 2.3 million newborns die in the first month of life and a reminder was issued that “these are not just numbers; these are lives”. While Lauren McIntosh, the Executive Director, Caribbean for World Pediatrics, celebrated the accomplishment that 10 neonatal training teams were sent to the ECC and for the first time and a training team was deployed to the British Virgin Islands (BVI).

The Executive Director said 400 health care workers benefitted from onsite training teams and during the last year, 280 health care workers were trained in nine virtual neonatal lectures which focused on topics relevant in the neonatal sphere.

McIntosh stated that World Pediatrics has been equipping health care workers with critical skills since 2011 and pledged their commitment to expanding neonatal training programmes to equip even more healthcare workers with the skills needed to provide high quality lifesaving care.

Gregory Hazzard, President, Rotary Club Barbados West, announced that promoting maternal and children’s health was one of Rotary International’s seven areas of focus, pledging the service organisation’s commitment to assisting in the future however they can. Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Dominica, have benefitted from a Rotary project which saw doctors and nurses in those islands receiving training thanks to $120,000 raised by Rotary.

Applauding investment in women and Children’s health as a smart investment, Dr. Solange Kobi-Jackson, Advisor for family and Life Course of PAHO/WHO-ECC Office,  described such investment particularly with specific attention to care around the time of birth and particularly care of small and sick newborns, as a decision that can save nearly three million lives of women, newborns and stillbirths. In the region of non-Latin America, Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) in 2022 was 12.4/1000 live births, above the global goal of at least and as low as 12; and ranged from 6 to more than 15 per 1,000 live births. Dr Pablo Duran, the PAHO regional advisor for perinatal health emphasized the improvement of perinatal health is not only about data, but also about change to equitable and universal coverage for high-impact interventions.

Dr. Ingrid Cumberbatch, Senior Medical Officer (South) with the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Barbados, thanked the organisers of the conference and presented remarks on behalf of the Minister of Health and Wellness, Senator Dr. the Most Honourable Jerome Walcott.

Highlighting the Barbados situation, Dr. Cumberbatch stated that Barbados has managed to “reduce its infant mortality rate from 18.1/1000 live births in 2011 to 7.6/1000 live births in 2023.”

Dr. Cumberbatch reiterated that women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health remains high on the Ministry’s agenda, while acknowledging some challenges being faced: the post-pandemic issues of the health workforce and supply chain, and the effects of the climate crisis.  “Pregnancy heightens vulnerability to heat, infectious diseases and air pollution. In addition, infants and children have unique pathways of exposure and sensitivity to climate hazards, given their immature physiology and nutritional needs.”

By the close of the conference, it was observed that the interactive approach, exchange of knowledge and engaging discussions resulted in organisers achieving their objectives.

PAHO/WHO Representative for Barbados and the ECC, Dr. Amalia Del Riego, summarized as follows. “We are confident that the chief medical officers, doctors, nurses, administrators, all the participants, have worked diligently at this conference to develop strategies with which we can move forward. As they competently implement their plans in their health care centres, to further strengthen Primary Health Care in our region, PAHO pledges its continued support to help them fulfill their mission. We are committed to providing mothers and their babies with equitable health care as part of our goal to achieve Universal Health Care.”