The Health Ministry is seeking to recruit an independent consultant to conduct an assessment of its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a newspaper advertisement, government noted that it received financing from the Inter-American Development Bank toward the cost of Health Services Support Programme (HSSP) and it intends to apply part of the funding toward the cost of contracting one individual consultant to conduct an assessment of the Ministry’s response to Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) Covid-19 and make recommendations to inform the Ministry’s response to future pandemics.
The Health Minister later issued a release, stating that the main objective of the consultancy is to “review and assess the country’s public health response to the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to the health system pillars set out by the World Health Organisation’s International Health Regulations (WHO IHR)”.
The Ministry stated that in accordance with these pillars, the country’s public health response will be assessed utilising four core areas which outline key technical areas as follows:
1. Prevention-national legislation, policy and financing, communication and advocacy, Infection Prevention Control (IPC) strategies and immunisation
2. Detection-laboratory systems, surveillance, reporting and human resources
3. Response-emergency preparedness, operational aspect of response, risk communications strategies; and
4. International Health Regulations (IHR) related hazards, including points of entry.
The Ministry said the result of this assessment will assist in developing the health sector’s resilience, inform responses to future pandemics and contribute to operational readiness as it relates to future disasters and emergencies.
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