conference magazine - Caribbean Environmental Health Institute

United States
Centers for
Disease Control
and Prevention
Message from Dr. Sharunda Buchanan
Director, Division of Emergency and Environmental Services, National
Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an operating division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, welcomes you to the Fifth Caribbean Environmental Forum (CEF 5) in Montego Bay, Jamaica. CDC has been
working in the Caribbean region on public health issues related to the environment for many years through a partnership with
the organizer of CEF 5, the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI), which is based in St. Lucia. Most of this work
has focused on pilot projects to implement Water Safety Plans, a methodology developed by the World Health Organization
(WHO) to evaluate risks in drinking water systems from catchment to consumer.
The Water Safety Plan methodology promotes a preventive, rather than reactive, approach to protecting the quality of drinking
water because it focuses on identifying risks specific to a particular system. A Water Safety Plan can encompass recommendations
for both major infrastructure investment and operational changes to improve drinking water systems; these plans are
flexible and can be tailored to systems of varying sizes.
The first pilot Water Safety Plan project in the Caribbean — indeed, the first in the Western Hemisphere — was undertaken
right here in Jamaica, in Spanish Town, in partnership with the Jamaican government, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Additional Water Safety Plan projects are under way in
Guyana and St. Lucia in conjunction with CEHI and other local and international partners. The aim of these projects is to develop
capacity within CEHI and other Caribbean partners so these partners can serve as a resource for future Water Safety
Plan projects in the Caribbean region. In addition, the Water Safety Plan documents generated by these projects provide examples
specific to the region. WHO and PAHO are actively promoting the Water Safety Plan methodology and the concept is
being widely adopted in many countries. We hope that these Caribbean demonstration projects and the capacity developed
within CEHI and other partners will be useful resources for the region.
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CDC has also been active in the initial stages of evaluating the impacts of climate change on water and sanitation as well as
in the broader arena of public health. The island nations of the Caribbean will potentially be some of the areas most affected
by climatic changes and may serve as indicators of the effects that other regions can expect. In keeping with the theme of
CEF 5, we look forward to the discussion this week on this topic and on how we can all continue to work together to improve
public health and the quality of life in the Caribbean.
FIFTH BIENNIAL CARIBBEAN ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM AND EXHIBITION