PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):--- Dutch Caribbean Public Health Expertise Network (DUCaPHEN) conference will start on Monday, March 11, and runs until March 15.
Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor, Collective Prevention Service (CPS) Department Head Eva Lista-de Weever said on Sunday that the conference will focus on a number of public health topics such as strengthening the country’s capacity to respond to public health events, disease surveillance, vector control, research opportunities and strengthening collaboration between public health and key stakeholders within the Dutch Caribbean.
The Dutch Caribbean Public Health Expertise Network (DUCaPHEN) was established in June 2023.
DUCaPHEN is a collaboration between the six islands in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), bringing together several public health professionals and medical specialists from both the Caribbean region and the European part of the Netherlands.
The aim of DUCaPHEN is to strengthen public health across the six islands in a collaborative manner. One of the pillars of this aim is strengthen public health in the region through the exchange of knowledge and expertise.
The overall objective of DuCaPHEN is to prepare for future pandemics and strengthen public health skills and collaborate with the Caribbean region of the Kingdom where public health is concerned.
DuCaPHEN supports and facilitates the local Public Health departments in epidemiology and communicable disease control.
The building blocks for the Caribbean HUB are capacity building of local Public Health, an education, training, and exercise program, a regional structure for epidemiology and surveillance, and regional research and prevention projects.
This way, sustainable construction of knowledge, innovation, research, and uniformity in data management can be facilitated and the opportunities for more flexibility to scale up personnel is created.
CPS extends an invitation to local public health professionals such as physicians to attend the Tuesday, March 12 conference session at 7:00 PM in the CPS Conference Room at the Vineyard Office Park in Philipsburg. For additional information, physicians can contact the CPS office by phone or by email.
