The Government of Barbados is calling on the global community to support investments in healthcare infrastructure for all countries in order to address the current population trends and tackle emerging healthcare challenges as they arise.
Former Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Investment, Patrick McCaskie, expressed this view recently during his presentation at the 58th Session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development, held at UN Headquarters in New York, from April 7 to 11.
Mr. McCaskie led the Barbados delegation at the annual session, which was held under the theme Ensuring Health Life and Promoting Well-Being for All Ages.
The aim of the session was to review and assess the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development at the national, regional, and international levels and its contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The senior government official highlighted the progress made at the national level in ensuring universal coverage and access to quality preventative and curative care and services, including the adoption of a consistent childhood immunisation and vaccination programme and declines recorded in adolescent fertility rate, which fell from 33.5 per cent in 2017 to 26.29 per cent in 2020.
Mr. McCaskie stressed the need for national and global partnerships, stating that they were necessary to “strengthen the healthcare infrastructure through investment modalities that give recognition to the unique vulnerabilities and fiscal constraints of small island states”.
“Emphasis should be placed on the development of conducive financing mechanisms, in accordance with the Bridgetown Initiative,” he added.
During the event, the significance of demographic intelligence to informing evidence-based health policies, strengthening health systems, and promoting sustainable development was discussed during a forum on Demographic Intelligence for Health Equity: Harnessing Data for Inclusive Policies and Universal Coverage.
Participants were exposed to the potential insights and policy developments based on increased data access, with examples taken from Panama and Indonesia.
In his remarks, Permanent Representative of Barbados to the United Nations, Ambassador François Jackman, advised that expanded access to up-to-date and quality information on the size, structure, and composition of the population, future projections through enhanced demographic intelligence would guide the work of policy to transform healthcare policy formulation and wider national development planning processes.
Ambassador Jackman further underscored the urgent need to pursue global and regional partnerships, including maximising opportunities for triangular and south-south cooperation, in order to transform our systems and support the implementation of the SDGs.
The Programme of Action, which was adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt in 1994, aims to address many of the fundamental population, health, education, and development challenges facing the entire human community. (PR/GIS)
