The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in partnership with the Epilepsy Society of the Caribbean (ESC), the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), and the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE), organized a regional workshop (28 February - 1 March) to strengthen country capacity to deliver evidence based care to people with epilepsy within the framework of PAHO Strategy and Plan of Action on Epilepsy.
Present for the official ceremony were Dr. Bernadette Theodore-Gandi, PAHO Representative for Trinidad and Tobago, and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Roshan Parasram from the Ministry of Health. The workshop was attended by 29 participants, nine of whom represented ministries of health of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Other participants were key regional partners from ESC, ILAE and IBE. Participants from PAHO included Dévora Kestel, Unit Chief of the Mental Health and Substance Use Unit; Claudina Cayetano, Regional Advisor on Mental Health; Taraleen Malcolm Advisor on Noncommunicable Diseases Prevention and Control in Trinidad and Tobago; and Juliana Vallini, specialist from PAHO Strategic Fund.
Key topics discussed during the workshop were: the midterm review of PAHO's epilepsy plan of action, the state of epilepsy care in the Caribbean and its integration into health programs, PAHO Strategic Fund as a strategy to improve the accessibility and affordability of antiepileptic drugs, and the existing regional and global commitments. PAHO also took the opportunity to introduce the Dementia Module of the mhGAP Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG).
The workshop concluded with working groups that addressed the four strategic lines of action of the epilepsy plan and made recommendations for its operationalization in the Caribbean.
Following the workshop, on Friday, 2 March, Dévora Kestel was invited to provide opening remarks at the Opening Ceremony of the 6th North American Regional Caribbean Congress on Epilepsy, also held in Trinidad and Tobago. The theme of the Congress was "The many faces of seizures, spells, and blackouts." Dr. Kestel and His Excellency Anthony Carmona, President of Trinidad and Tobago, were the two speakers at the official ceremony for the opening of the Congress.
