Great Bay:--- The Department of Collective Preventive Services recently received the annual Caribbean Surveillance Award, third place, which was given out during the 28th Caribbean Expanded Program on Immunizations Manager's Meeting held in Barbados February 27, 2012 – March 2, 2012."I would like to congratulate management and staff for this achievement, and I would like to encourage them to continue the good work and to raise the bar and aim for receiving first prize next year," said Minister of Public Health Social Development & Labor, Cornelius de Weever.
An annual Caribbean Surveillance Award has been established to recognize countries that have performed outstandingly on the surveillance component of their program during the previous year. The award is based on two main criteria: on-time reporting and the percentage of sites reporting to CAREC. The award consists of a certificate and the inscription of the name of the country on a plaque that is kept by the winning country during the following year and until a new country is selected to receive the award. The award is announced during the annual Managers' meeting. Dominica is the recipient of the 2011 Surveillance Award. Awards for the second and third places went to Antigua/Barbuda and St. Maarten, respectively.
Participants at the 28th Caribbean EPI Managers' Meeting sincerely congratulate these countries for being the recipients of awards and extend their compliments to all their health workers for such outstanding performances.