PAHO/ECHO FUNDING SUPPORT FOR MOHE LEPTOSPIROSIS EFFORTS

February 14, 2008 (MOH&E):

The Ministry of Health and Environment has received funding from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), through a post Hurricane Dean Grant provided by ECHO, to boost its laboratory capacity to diagnose and manage Leptospirosis.

ECHO, the Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission recently awarded Jamaica a grant of 350,000 euros (US$498,000) for post Hurricane Dean activities in the area of vector control and infrastructural rehabilitation for the Bellevue Hospital.

Dr. Linnette Peters, Director of Veterinary Public Health in the Ministry of Health and Environment said that the vector control portion of the funds disbursed will, in addition to other uses, facilitate the re-establishment of a testing site at the National Public Health Laboratory in Kingston. The facility has been without a testing site since 1990 when the former site was destroyed by fire.

She explained that the re-institution of a testing site on the grounds of the National Laboratory will support the satellite laboratory at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in terms of Quality Assurance and the provision of critical pretest materials. The new testing site will also complement laboratory testing for Leptospirosis at the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory which is currently the main Laboratory in Jamaica providing specialized testing to determine the type of Leptospirosis.

The funding disbursed to the Ministry will also aid in training Laboratory Technicians in Laboratory Techniques for the Quantitative ELISA - a test now being used at the Cornwall Regional Hospital which will soon be implemented at the NPHL.

“The training for the Quantitative ELISA test will be conducted at the NPHL over the period February 18 to 22 to facilitate its implementation at the Laboratory come March of this year,” Dr. Peters said.

Continuing Dr. Peters added that throughout 2008 the Ministry will be embarking on an inter-agency Leptospirosis Prevention Programme aimed at reducing the incidence of the disease. She said it is expected that the partnership with the Pan American Health Organization and ECHO will go a far way in strengthening the National Programme for Leptospirosis control in Jamaica.

Other vector control interventions underway in the PAHO/ECHO/MOHE project include implementation of leptospirosis and dengue control and prevention programmes in the parishes of St. James, Clarendon and St. Mary. In St. James, the focus will be on the Retirement, Irwin and Granville districts where there have been reported cases of leptospirosis and dengue.