OIRSA Weighs In on Belize’s TR4 Prevention Strategies

BAHA’s efforts are not being done in isolation. It is part of a regional readiness effort, because if it gets into one of the countries the chances of it spreading across the region is almost guaranteed. So, regional body OIRSA has been providing support to Central America, where countries have been carrying out similar exercises to keep the disease out of the region. Officials from the organization went along to observe and provide feedback on BAHA’s simulation. Here’s what they had to say about the country’s preparedness.

Fermin Blanco

Fermin Blanco, Country Representative, OIRSA

“We have this program going on that will strengthen the capacity of the local competent authority has. We know that they are limited in resources; we are too, but coming together and building capacity for them to react, when to react and how to react. So, our presence here is capacity building, supporting all our member countries and Belize is the last one to do this simulation exercise. So that whenever it comes, the competent authority can react. This is just the initial. We have more to come to fine tune everything we have done. With this exercise, we have detected some errors, some slight errors that we have to fix and better it off for the next coming simulation.”