OECS Regional Health Project

active

The objective of the Project is to improve preparedness capacities of health systems for public health emergencies in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS region). Component 1: Improved Health Facilities and Laboratory Capacity. This component focuses on improving the resilience and capacity of select health facilities and laboratories to provide services to manage a public health emergency, including an emerging disease outbreak, extreme weather event or other disaster. Subcomponent 1.1 Health Facilities Infrastructure and Referral Networks. This component will focus on the development of: (i) resilient health facilities in participating countries; and (ii) a facility inventory at the regional level, which will inform the development of an emergency coordination mechanism at the regional level. Subcomponent 1.2 Laboratory Infrastructure and Capacity Building. The project will also support investments in laboratory infrastructure and capacity with the aim of improving the efficiency and quality of the laboratory network in the region. Component 2: Strengthening Public Health Surveillance and Emergency Management. This component will support efforts to strengthen public health preparedness, including surveillance and emergency response through improvement of national and regional capacities and promotion of cross border collaboration. This component would improve the completeness and quality of the reporting chain for surveillance activities from the national to regional level, including improvements in interoperability and the development of a regional dashboard to monitor trends. Subcomponent 2.1 Public Health Surveillance. At the national level, activities under this subcomponent will focus on: (i) improving the information base for surveillance through training and investments in HIS (e.g. strengthening case detection and reporting, mapping communicable diseases using GIS to identify high-risk areas); (ii) addressing points of vulnerability through improved surveillance in targeted areas (e.g. food safety, port health and inspection) and high-risk groups (e.g. pregnant women); and (iii) support to national vector control programs and implementation of the Frontline and Basic Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP). Subcomponent 2.2 Emergency Management. This subcomponent will support strengthening of national and regional emergency management and response capacities to respond swiftly and effectively to outbreak threats. In addition, project interventions will provide support to improve country and regional surge capacity to ensure rapid response during an emergency, including those induced by climate change. Component 3: Institutional Capacity Building, Project Management and Coordination. Component 3 will support the critical building blocks for strong implementation and coordination required for implementing this regional project. Specific institutional capacity building activities include technical assistance for contract management, procurement, financial management (FM), environmental and social safeguards, construction supervision (e.g. engineer and/or architect), monitoring and evaluation, and project audits. With respect to project management and coordination, this component will finance personnel for project execution and regional coordination platforms for knowledge sharing among the implementing entities and collective monitoring of implementation status. Finally, related operating expenses and equipment will also be financed. Component 4. Contingency Emergency Response Component (CERC). This zero-cost component aims to provide immediate surge funding in the event of a public health emergency, such as a disease outbreak.