A US$22 million initiative funded by a grant from the Pandemic Fund and the World Bank, was launched on Friday. Guyana is the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the second worldwide, to establish a One Health Project.
Over the next three years, the project will focus on preventing, preparing for, and responding to future health emergencies using an integrated One Health approach. The One Health initiative seeks to improve the health of humans, animals, and the environment.
Guyana was not prepared to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic when the first positive case reached its shores in 2020. And so, to detect, prevent, and respond to future health emergencies, the Guyana One Health Project was created.
Dr Anand Persaud, the Technical Project Lead, revealed that the project will include five major components: enhancing laboratory and workforce capacity; strengthening health surveillance systems for early detection and response; building One Health coordination and operational capacity; project management, monitoring, and evaluation; and a contingency emergency response component to allow swift action during crises.
Guyana is the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the second worldwide, to establish a One Health Project.
“We realised during the COVID pandemic, there were many systems that were neglected in some way or another, not only in Guyana but around the world, so we speak about for example surveillance system,” Dr Persaud explained.
The project will be executed by Guyana’s Ministry of Health, while the World Bank will guide the execution along with the monitoring and financial aspects.
Strengthening border security is also a major part of the project rollout.
“We learned during the COVID pandemic that we are not able to close our borders whenever there is an outbreak of disease and now we are able to ensure we have controlled mechanisms at our points of entry to monitor conveyances and cargo and travelers which is very important,” Dr Persaud said.
Practice Manager at the World Bank Group, Tanya Dmytrazenko, praised Guyana’s ability to prepare and submit a successful proposal within just four months – well below the typical 12-month timeline.
“This project, the One Health Project is the first World Bank supported One Health Project in the Latin America region and only two worldwide, the other one being China, so Guyana is among a pretty big player,” the World Bank representative stated.
She described the project as a direct response to the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that health security is not just a medical issue, referencing how the pandemic destabilised economies globally.
The One Health Project will also establish a state-of-the-art laboratory that will serve as a regional reference hub for the Caribbean. It promises opportunities for cross-border collaboration and knowledge sharing, strengthening pandemic preparedness beyond Guyana’s borders.
Priya Basu, Executive Head of the Pandemic Fund, called the project a significant milestone in Guyana’s development and also reminded how the last pandemic devastated education, health systems, and economies.
Basu said investments like these cost only a fraction of what being unprepared can cost.
Meanwhile, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony emphasised the scientific advancements the project will support, including molecular and gene sequencing for disease surveillance.
“We must be able to see what is happening in any part of the country and once we see a hotspot we will have rapid response teams that will respond in a timely manner so that it doesn’t become a problem, so that’s what we are aiming to do with these resources,” Dr Anthony said.
The significance of such a project could not be overstated at the launch, as it represented a major milestone in Guyana’s development in equipping the future workforce with the tools and training required to combat emerging health threats.
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