A landmark handover ceremony recently marked two key milestones in the long-running health partnership between Taiwan and Saint Lucia: the official rollout of the new i-Screen Wound Management Module, and a donation of 30 additional tablet computers to support frontline health workers across the Caribbean island.
The event brought together Taiwan’s Ambassador to Saint Lucia Nicole Su, Saint Lucia’s Minister for Health, Wellness and Nutrition Moses Jn. Baptiste, senior Ministry of Health officials, and members of the Taiwan Technical Mission for a joint commemorative photo, cementing the collaborative spirit behind the initiative.
Designed as a targeted upgrade to the existing i-Screen digital health platform, the new wound management tool is purpose-built to strengthen national prevention and care frameworks for metabolic chronic conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, and obesity – a group of long-term illnesses that have placed growing strain on Saint Lucia’s public health system in recent years.
First developed via a trilateral partnership between Saint Lucia’s Health Information Unit, Taiwan’s Cathay General Hospital, and the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF), the broader i-Screen platform is fully integrated with Saint Lucia’s National Health Information System (SLUHIS). This seamless connection eliminates fragmented patient record-keeping, creating a unified, continuous view of each patient’s care journey for clinical teams.
Currently deployed across all 30 primary healthcare facilities and 8 administrative health regions nationwide, the system empowers Community Health Aides (CHAs) and other frontline outreach staff to log critical biometric data – including blood glucose and blood pressure readings – directly into digital records during home visits and community screening drives.
Ambassador Su noted that the full integration of the i-Screen ecosystem with SLUHIS paves the way for future feature expansions, and emphasized the urgent clinical need that drove development of the dedicated wound management module. “Metabolic chronic conditions, especially diabetes, very often progress to life-altering complications such as chronic non-healing wounds, which require consistent, highly precise long-term tracking,” she explained. “This new module digitizes the full workflow of wound recording, monitoring, and healing progress assessment, drastically improving both the accuracy and efficiency of care delivery for at-risk patients.”
The 30 new tablet devices supplement a prior 50-unit donation from Taiwan, expanding on-the-ground access to the digital tool for more frontline teams. Ambassador Su also highlighted that since the 2023 launch of the bilateral Capacity Building Project for the Prevention and Control of Metabolic Chronic Diseases, the consistent dedication of Saint Lucia’s community health aides and frontline nursing teams has already driven measurable progress in reducing the burden of these preventable illnesses.
Minister Moses Jn. Baptiste underscored that the initiative represents far more than a technical upgrade, framing it as a shared success for both nations and the communities served by the public health system. “This ongoing collaborative project has hit yet another key milestone,” he stated. “This is not just a win for the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Nutrition – it is a tangible benefit for every single person who will interact with this platform as part of their care.” He also urged all health personnel to fully adopt the new digital skills associated with the tool, noting that technological literacy is now a core requirement for delivering high-quality care in an increasingly digitized global health landscape.
Principal Nursing Officer Julietta Cassius emphasized the life-saving potential of the new module, pointing to Saint Lucia’s steadily rising amputation rates linked to unmanaged diabetes complications. “We are seeing far too many diabetic patients present to hospital in critical condition, where no intervention short of toe or leg amputation can prevent further life-threatening harm,” she said. “This new tool is no symbolic gesture – it will directly elevate the standard of care we can deliver to patients in their own communities, long before their conditions escalate to that critical stage.”
Since the original base version of the i-Screen App launched in October 2024, public health teams across Saint Lucia have already completed screening for more than 23,000 residents, identifying thousands of at-risk individuals who would have otherwise slipped through traditional passive care gaps.
Health initiative marks another milestone in Saint Lucia-Taiwan ties
