OECS Commission supports Voluntary Counseling and Testing Workshop

OECS Media Release

The OECS Commission supported a 5-day workshop held by the Millennium Heights Medical Complex (MHMC) on Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT), that took place from May 16th to 19th 2022. The workshop on Voluntary Counselling and testing was facilitated by Mrs. Patricia Modeste, a seasoned VCT trainer from the Planned Parenthood in Saint Lucia.

This training was an initiative of the recently established Occupational Health Department of the MHMC, represented by Dr. Rachel Thwaites. This department’s focus is the health, wellbeing, and safety of MHMC employees. To this end, the importance of building in-house capacity in the management of needlestick injuries and HIV testing was recognized as an area of priority.

A special lecture delivered by the Senior Technical Specialist-Quality Assurance Mr. Abraham Weekes on “Pharmaco-adherence” provided additional value to the training. 

The beneficiaries of this workshop were Nurses, Doctors, Clinical Psychologists and Phlebotomist from the OKEU Hospital and of course citizens of Saint Lucia who would be the secondary recipients from the knowledge gained by the participants.  

The participants benefited immensely, as they are now in a position to define and put into practice, the concepts learned on pharmaco-adherence and other related areas.  

Through its HIV/TB Elimination Project (HTEP), the OECS remains committed to reducing the incidence of HIV in accordance with the HIV 90-90 targets. The efforts of this project have contributed to the elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV in the OECS countries of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat and Saint Kitts and Nevis, a feat validated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2017.

The OECS Pool Procurement Services continues to provide invaluable support for persons living with HIV, through ensuring continuous procurement and supply chain management  of medicines and testing kits.

 

Note to Editors

Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) refers to when a person chooses to undergo HIV/AIDS counselling so that they can make an informed decision about whether to be tested for HIV. It has proven to be beneficial in mitigating against the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Abraham Weekes

Senior Technical Specialist, Pooled Procurement Services, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

OECS Communications Unit

Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

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The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) is an International Organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance among independent and non-independent countries in the Eastern Caribbean. The OECS came into being on June 18th 1981, when seven Eastern Caribbean countries signed a treaty agreeing to cooperate with each other while promoting unity and solidarity among its Members. The Treaty became known as the Treaty of Basseterre, so named in honour of the capital city of St. Kitts and Nevis where it was signed. The OECS today, currently has eleven members, spread across the Eastern Caribbean comprising Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Martinique and Guadeloupe. 

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