Castries, St. Lucia, May 12, 2025 (PAHO) - Health officials and other first responders from around the island concluded a week-long workshop to review and update the national Multi-Hazard Health Sector Disaster Management Plan (MHHSDMP) and Pandemic Preparedness Plan.
The workshop, coordinated by the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), was organized to ensure the key stakeholders were involved in the process of incorporating epidemic and pandemic preparedness into the national plan.
In thanking PAHO for partnering with the Ministry, Senior Medical Officer, Dr. Delphina Vernor, stated: “This review allowed us to revisit our protocols and improve our preparedness for disasters and public health threats.”
She said the Ministry’s hope is that the various stakeholders “understand their roles and responsibilities in responding when there is an impending disaster.”
Dr. Vernor added that the workshop was funded by the World Bank through the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
Speaking on behalf of the PAHO/WHO Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Countries (ECC), Dr. Amalia Del Riego, Advisor, Health Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control, Dr. Prabhjot Singh, commended St. Lucia for their progressive approach. “Saint Lucia is among the pioneers in the Caribbean to bring Multi-Hazard Planning and Pandemic Preparedness together under a single framework. This is not only a forward-thinking approach - it is an efficient one, recognizing that threats are often interconnected and that our response must be unified and agile.”
The MHHSDMP integrated PAHO’s toolkits: the Multi‑Hazard Response Framework (MRF) and the Strategic Tool for Assessing Risks (STAR), guide comprehensive risk assessment and emergency response planning. Additionally, the World Health Organization (WHO) Preparedness and Resilience for Emerging Threats (PRET) framework provided guidance specifically for epidemic and pandemic preparedness planning.
The targets for an updated Multi Hazard Plan and a MOH Disaster Management Training Programme were met.
