Countries in the Caribbean will soon be looking towards St Lucia now that the island is the first in the region to launch a National Pandemic Influenza Communication Strategy. Under the coordination of the National Emergency Management Organization, (NEMO) the plan is designed to be a component of the government’s comprehensive National Influenza Plan.

The official launch of the national strategy was held at the National Insurance Conference Centre where key stakeholders from the ministry of health, the ministry of agriculture, USAID/PAHO, NEMO and LUCELEC spoke of the importance of the plan to the island, especially at the time when the country was still on guard against H1N1.

“This is a significant milestone in our country’s preparation for pandemic influenza and its potential to cause serious negative impacts on in St Lucia,” said NEMO’s director Dawn French. As a small nation with limited resources French thanked USAID for assistance in helping prepare St Lucia to deal with the influenza threat.

The strategy is an 89-page document that resulted from multi sectoral work led by NEMO and conducted by Links Media, a US Company providing communication and expertise on behalf of USAID. With the adoption of the Communications Strategy, the government presents a comprehensive set of activities to be used in the island before, during and after possible outbreaks of influenza including public awareness campaigns.
In her remarks at the event, Dawn French expressed that a captain could not run a ship alone and for that reason, thanked all collaborating partners in the initiative.

Marisabel Sanchez, representative from USAID/ PAHO/ Links Media said the process of forming the strategy was a long one that required a lot of dialogue and was still a work in progress. She said it had been a long and interesting journey and efforts from partners notably, Dawn French from NEMO had been impressive.

At the launch the St Lucia Electricity Services (LUCELEC) was thrown into the mix in the form of representative Roger Joseph speaking of the company’s own influenza plan. The company was credited as one of the model private sector companies that had formed their own influenza plan as part of the island’s national influenza plan.

Joseph, the company’s communications officer, noted that chapter 18 of LUCELEC’s Disaster Management Plan reflected approaches to disaster management as the sole supplier of electricity on the island had not only a business responsibility, but a national responsibility to ensure power supply continued despite internal problems that could arise.

At first the chapter dealt only with avian influenza but now H1N1 forms a part of the general influenza plan. The plan’s key purpose is to keep things at the company running smoothly without adverse disruptions to the public and economy in the event of a disaster, or flu outbreak with expectations of a high level of staff absenteeism.

“Even before things began escalating we started preparing for worst case scenario,” said Joseph.
“We recognized functions could be affected, and the outbreak of H1N1 was an opportunity to test the plan well in the real thing. Most of the staff were fairly well briefed on what a pandemic could cause and how the company was expected to respond.

“Of course the threat is not over,” Joseph continued. “We will continue with education and awareness of staff and have emergency supplies available.”

At the end of it all, Marisabel Sanchez noted there were areas left to be strengthened and predicted the plan would continue to move forward and mature. St Lucia was the pilot in the project and will be the model used in the region, Latin America and Caribbean countries.

“I hope this isn’t the last time we’ll collaborate,” Sanchez expressed. “I wish you success because what’s at stake here is the health of citizens.”