CASTRIES, St. Lucia – Prime Minster Phillip J Pierre has confirmed that the United States has called on St. Lucia to stop sending its nationals to study medicine in Cuba.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – More than 100 health workers arrived here from Ghana on Monday night with Antigua and Barbuda saying their presence will go towards easing the staff shortage within the health sector.

WASHINGTON, DC – The World Health Organization (WHO)  Tuesday urged Caribbean governments to significantly strengthen taxes on sugary drinks and alcoholic beverages amid concerns that these products are getting cheaper, due to consistently low tax rates in most countries.

PARAMARIBO,  Suriname – Health Minister André Misiekaba is urging the population to take precaution after the country recorded one death and 134 cases of the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus outbreak.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua - Antigua and Barbuda government has agreed to contract over 100 nurses from Ghana, but insisted that it has not formally ended the programme where it has recruited health professionals from Cuba to work within the country’s healthcare system.

Coral Springs Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen is urging people who are suffering from a mental illness to seek professional help which might save their lives.

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Prime Minister, Dr. Andrew Holness,  officially opened the new Parent Overnight Suite at the Bustamante Hospital for Children, enabling parents to remain close and to assist in their recovery. 

BASSETERRE, ST. Kitts – Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew says he will be bringing to Cabinet, a submission to address the important matter of increasing the birth rate in St. Kitts and Nevis.

PARAMARIBO, Suriname – Suriname's government says persons insured with the State Health Insurance Fund (SZF) will no longer be required to pay extra for operations and medications that fall under the SZF allowance.

CASTRIES,  St. Lucia – The Director General of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Dr Didacus Jules, says the presence and investment of the US-based World Pediatrics in regional hubs as well as its collaboration with ministries of health and clinical teams have transformed lives and strengthened systems in the sub-region.

PARAMARIBO, Suriname - President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons has described her recent visit to Colombia as a “working” one intended to deepen existing collaboration and to gather practical building blocks for a renewed healthcare system in Suriname.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Monday said it has launched the nee HEARTS Quality Framework ,  which countries can  immediately use to enhance hypertension and cardiovascular risk management, prevent heart attacks and strokes, and deliver better care through primary health care closer to people’s homes.