Carib Scope

作者： admin

  • Minouche Bromet neemt vanaf 15 september leiding SZF over

    Minouche Bromet neemt vanaf 15 september leiding SZF over

    On September 9, public health authorities in Suriname announced a key leadership transition at the nation’s Staatsziekenfonds (SZF), the country’s public state health insurance fund. Starting September 15, Minouche Bromet will step into the role of acting general director to steer the organization while formal appointment processes are finalized.

    Internal stakeholders have already been notified of the leadership change: SZF staff received word of the transition via an internal memorandum on the same day the announcement was made, and Marciano Djanam, chair of the SZF board of directors, was formally briefed by relevant ministry officials.

    André Misiekaba, Minister of Public Health, Welfare and Labor (VWA), confirmed that he has officially put Bromet forward as the nominee for the permanent position of general director of the SZF. This nomination aligns fully with Article 16 of the statutes governing the State Health Fund Foundation, the legal framework that structures the agency’s operations.

    The decision to appoint an acting director ahead of final formal confirmation is rooted in a commitment to preserving organizational continuity. With the formal appointment process still requiring final completion, the interim appointment ensures no disruption to the SZF’s core public health services and daily operations. During her acting tenure, Bromet will oversee all day-to-day management of the fund, carrying out her duties in strict accordance with the foundation’s governing statutes.

    Bromet’s move to the permanent general director role remains contingent on two key milestones: the completion of all legally required formal procedural steps, and the final approval of Suriname’s Council of Ministers. Once both requirements are satisfied, the nomination will be finalized and Bromet will take on the permanent leadership position.

  • Panama Canal Restrictions Put Up to US$10 Billion in CARICOM Imports at Risk, CPSO Warns

    Panama Canal Restrictions Put Up to US$10 Billion in CARICOM Imports at Risk, CPSO Warns

    A new preliminary analysis from the Caribbean Community Private Sector Organization (CPSO) has uncovered significant economic risk facing CARICOM nations, as unprecedented transit restrictions at the Panama Canal put between $8 billion and $10 billion of the bloc’s annual imports in jeopardy. This figure accounts for roughly one-quarter to one-third of the entire region’s non-fuel import spending, marking one of the most pressing supply chain challenges Caribbean economies have faced in recent decades.

    The crisis stems from a prolonged drought in the Panama Canal’s watershed, where rainfall from May through August has hit 34% below the long-term historical average, and water inflows to the region have fallen 44% below typical levels. The Panama Canal Authority’s recently issued Advisory A-29-2026 has enacted strict new capacity limits: starting September 4, daily vessel transits will be capped at 34, with the cap dropping further to 32 just 11 days later on September 15. Authorities have also issued a stark warning that the 2026-2027 El Niño event, expected to be unusually intense, could cut water supplies even more dramatically during the 2027 dry season running from January to April.

    Market stress is already emerging as shipping lines adapt to constrained capacity. A recent priority booking slot for a Panama Canal transit sold at auction for $5.3 million, the highest winning bid ever recorded for the route. Major global container carriers including CMA CGM, MSC, and Hapag-Lloyd have already implemented per-TEU surcharges for all routes dependent on the canal, with industry analysts predicting further fee increases as water levels drop and draft restrictions tighten.

    Dr. Patrick Antoine, CEO and Technical Director of the CPSO, emphasized that these extra costs will not be absorbed by shipping companies alone, but will filter through the entire supply chain to end consumers. “Auction premiums and low-water surcharges do not stay on the carriers’ books,” Antoine explained. “They are passed down the chain to importers, to distributors, and ultimately to the Caribbean consumer. When slot scarcity forces carriers to reroute or rationalise port calls, small Caribbean markets are typically the first to lose frequency and the last to regain it.”

    CARICOM economies rank among the most import-dependent in the world, with the vast majority of food, manufactured consumer goods, and construction inputs reaching regional markets via transshipment networks that rely on the Panama Canal either for direct transit or for baseline pricing. The CPSO’s estimate of at-risk imports includes both $4.5 billion to $7 billion in cargo that travels directly through the canal, as well as additional goods that transit the canal before being consolidated at U.S. ports for final shipment to Caribbean nations.

    Consumers across the region face two overlapping risks from the disruption: first, reduced product availability as longer shipping lead times force retailers to operate with thinner inventory stockpiles, and second, broad-based price increases as surcharges and longer alternative routing push up final landed costs for all goods. The challenge is compounded by ongoing disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, meaning two of the world’s most critical maritime trade chokepoints are under simultaneous pressure—one strained by climate-driven drought, and the other disrupted by geopolitical conflict. This dual shock has driven up global freight rates, war risk insurance premiums, and fuel costs across the board.

    For Caribbean nations that rely on imported petroleum, the overlap creates a particularly severe strain: electricity, transport, and food prices are all facing upward pressure at the same time, threatening to exacerbate cost-of-living crises across the region.

    In response to the growing threat, the CPSO has already presented a new supply chain resilience framework, called Derisking CSME Imports, to CARICOM Heads of Government during a July 2026 breakfast meeting held in Saint Lucia. The methodology maps the full extent of CARICOM’s exposure to external supply shocks, and breaks down exposure product by product to identify opportunities where regional production and alternative supply routes can replace vulnerable long-distance imports from outside the bloc.

    “Every percentage point of import demand we can shift to regional supply is a percentage point insulated from canal auctions, low-water surcharges and chokepoint conflict,” Antoine said. “Regional resilience is not built during a crisis. It is built before one.”

    The CPSO is currently urging regional importers to proactively coordinate with shipping carriers and logistics providers immediately to plan for routing adjustments, surcharge costs, and inventory management for the final quarter of 2026 and the high-risk 2027 dry season. The organization continues to advance the region’s trade connectivity agenda alongside CARICOM leaders, the World Bank’s Caribbean Reconnect Programme, and a proposed Regional Ferry Service initiative that is currently under review by heads of government.

  • Sherman Boston blames Electoral Office for disorganization during Roseau North by-election

    Sherman Boston blames Electoral Office for disorganization during Roseau North by-election

    In the wake of the recently concluded September 7 Roseau North by-election, independent contender Sherman Boston has raised sharp criticisms over widespread organizational failures in the electoral process, claiming that systemic missteps led to voter confusion and disenfranchisement across the constituency.

    Speaking exclusively to investigative journalist Richie Ferrol on September 8, one day after polls closed, Boston argued that the Electoral Office had ample time to prepare for the by-election and failed to deliver a smoothly coordinated voting process. He emphasized that procedural inconsistencies and poor planning eroded public trust in the island’s electoral system, going as far as to note that some registered voters were ultimately blocked from casting their ballots entirely due to the disarray.

    Boston singled out the Goodwill Primary School polling station as a primary example of these failures, where large numbers of voters struggled to locate their assigned voting areas. He recalled that the chaotic situation only prompted emergency intervention late in the day: “Actually at three o’clock on polling day, Mr. Duncan Stowe, the chairman of the electoral commission, and three young ladies came in and took two photos of the middle with signs to the Goodwill Primary School grounds, providing proper signage, as people appeared confused as to where to find the polling stations. This was done to reduce the chaos that was developing.”

    The independent candidate stressed that issues with election organization were not limited to his own on-the-ground observations, noting that multiple other stakeholders and voters had also submitted reports of similar problems across other polling locations.

    Beyond logistical failures, Boston outlined the broader structural challenges independent candidates face when competing against nominees from established political parties. He explained that a large share of voters still rely on major political parties for information and political guidance, creating a high barrier to entry for non-partisan candidates looking to build support. Boston also accused major parties of treating voters as tools to advance their own ideological goals and consolidate power, rather than prioritizing the long-term well-being of the general public.

    Boston went on to detail the inherent structural advantages he claims his two opponents held in the race. He alleged that the winning candidate, from the governing Dominica Labour Party (DLP), gained an unfair edge through the ruling party’s access to state infrastructure and public financing, which the party used to build and maintain its popularity among voters. “I mean, out of the three candidates, one had the backing of a political party that literally bought its popularity through government structures. The current government has access to the country’s financing; you cannot shy away from that,” Boston alleged.

    As for his other opponent, Boston noted that the United Workers Party (UWP) nominee benefited from decades of built-up support and a long-established political base in Roseau North, where the UWP has historically been considered the dominant political force. “The other opponent had an inherited popularity in the UWP and was supposed to be a stronghold in the Roseau North Constituency. It ended badly for them because, I mean, certain times you have to look outside yourself,” he asserted.

    These existing partisan power structures, Boston argued, created a fundamentally uneven electoral landscape that put an independent candidate like him at an unavoidable disadvantage from the start of the campaign.

    Despite the final outcome that saw DLP candidate Ashma McDougall win the seat and retain the party’s majority in parliament, Boston says the results should push major political parties to engage in serious introspection. He specifically pointed to the UWP, noting that the party had what could have been a clear path to victory but made strategic choices that undermined its chances.

    McDougall’s win closes the latest chapter in Roseau North’s political history, cementing the DLP’s continued parliamentary control in the constituency.

  • Calypso, soca and Dennery artistes to set up new body

    Calypso, soca and Dennery artistes to set up new body

    On September 5, a landmark gathering of music industry stakeholders from three of Saint Lucia’s most iconic musical traditions — calypso, soca and Dennery segment music — convened at Castries City Hall to advance a long-discussed goal: creating a single, legally recognized organization to unify and advocate for artists and industry professionals across all three genres.

    The meeting drew a diverse cross-section of the island’s music community, including veteran calypso and soca performers, sitting and former genre administrators, and working artists from across the country. Discussion centered on longstanding gaps in collective representation for the three interconnected genres, with attendees expressing overwhelming support for a unified body that would centralize advocacy, protect artist interests, and advance the growth of Saint Lucia’s homegrown music industry.

    The initiative has already earned high-level backing from key cultural and industry leaders. Ernest Hilaire, Saint Lucia’s Minister for Creative Industries, publicly endorsed the effort, alongside Martin James, chairman of the Eastern Caribbean Collective Organisation for Music Rights (ECCO), and Thaddeus Antoine, a noted copyright attorney and chairman of the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority. Veteran industry figure Caron Tobiere, a founder of the island’s previous calypso association, was selected to lead the new steering committee tasked with moving the project forward, while local music leader Linda Chocolate chaired the September 5 convening.

    Attendees reached consensus on several core founding decisions during the meeting. First, members formally committed to establishing a democratically selected, legally registered representative body. For the interim, the group will retain the name SLCA2009, with a plan to adopt a new official title that explicitly reflects the inclusion of all three genres — calypso, soca and Dennery segment music — in the near future.

    A five-member constitutional review committee was appointed to revise and update the organization’s governing framework. Once the committee completes its initial draft, the document will be open to feedback from all participating stakeholders before a revised version is presented at the next general members’ meeting scheduled for September 10. At that upcoming gathering, members will also formalize procedures and timelines for the final election of the new organization’s full leadership board.

    In addition to laying the groundwork for the unified representative body, the committee will also support the planning of a major cultural milestone: Saint Lucia’s first-ever Calypso Exhibition, scheduled to open September 28, 2026, at Castries City Hall, marking a key step in preserving and celebrating the island’s rich calypso heritage for future generations.

  • Former PM Said Musa Calls September 10th a “Colonial Construct”

    Former PM Said Musa Calls September 10th a “Colonial Construct”

    A decades-long national conversation over Belize’s September public holidays has been reignited by former prime minister Said Musa, who is drawing new attention to the colonial origins of the upcoming Battle of St. George’s Caye holiday marked every September 10.

    The annual commemoration traces its roots back to the 1798 Battle of St. George’s Caye, a conflict that pitted British Baymen and enslaved local people against Spanish forces attempting to seize control of the territory. For generations, the date stood as Belize’s unofficial national day, but it has long been a point of debate for post-independence leaders who sought to center national identity on Belize’s sovereign status rather than its colonial history.

    In an exclusive interview with local outlet News 5, Musa laid out his clear stance on why founding leaders, including former Premier George Price, made the deliberate choice to shift the country’s primary national celebration to September 21 – the date of Belize’s independence. Musa explained that Price recognized the need for a unifying national holiday that reflected Belize’s emergence as a free, independent, sovereign nation, rather than one tied to its history of colonial rule.

    “The tenth of September historically was our national day. The problem was that it was from the colonial days, the tenth of September was tied to the colonial period and Mr. Price realized that we have to break away from that,” Musa told reporters. He went on to emphasize that the reasoning behind the shift is straightforward: “People came and wanted to know, why did we not stick with the tenth? Because, the tenth is a colonial construct, that is why, plain and simple.”

    Even after the shift in national emphasis following Belize’s independence, September 10 has remained an official public holiday across the country. It continues to be observed through community ceremonies, public celebrations, and long-standing local traditions including the annual Queen of the Bay coronation pageant. Musa’s comments come just one day ahead of this year’s September 10 holiday, reopening discussion about national identity, colonial legacy, and the role of historic commemorations in modern independent Belize.

  • Cricket West Indies appoints veteran English coach as batting consultant

    Cricket West Indies appoints veteran English coach as batting consultant

    Cricket West Indies (CWI) has announced a key addition to its high-performance coaching setup, confirming the appointment of experienced former first-class cricketer Bob Carter as the organization’s new batting consultant. Born in Britain, Carter joined the CWI team officially on September 1, signing an initial 12-month contract that will see him support development programs across both the men’s and women’s national cricket setups.

    Carter brings a wealth of coaching knowledge accumulated over more than a decade of high-level cricket leadership. His most prominent previous role was head coach of the New Zealand women’s national cricket team, a position he held from 2019 through 2022. Before stepping into that head coaching role, he spent 13 years as a high-performance coach for New Zealand Cricket, starting in 2012. Though Carter retired from full-time coaching duties in 2025, he has remained active in the sport in recent months, completing consultancy work for the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord’s Cricket Ground and leading a specialized coaching clinic at the Saint Lucia Cricket High-Performance Centre.

    In his first project with CWI, Carter will embark on a multi-stop regional tour launching later this September. The tour will take him across six major cricketing hubs in the Caribbean: Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, the Leeward Islands, and the Windward Islands, where he will work directly with regional players and coaching staff.

    The timing of Carter’s appointment is strategically planned, coming roughly six months before the West Indies men’s national team competes in the 2028 ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier, scheduled for February and March. This tournament marks the second consecutive time West Indies has had to compete in the qualifier to secure a spot in the main Cricket World Cup draw.

    Speaking in an official statement released by CWI, Carter emphasized his enthusiasm for the new role and his respect for West Indies’ cricketing legacy. “West Indies cricket has a proud tradition of producing outstanding batsmen, and my job is to help build the base to produce future generations of world-class players,” Carter said. “My focus has always been on supporting players and coaches to reach their full potential, and I am looking forward to working alongside the regional and high-performance coaches to help achieve that.”

    Miles Bascombe, CWI’s Director of Cricket, framed the hire as a critical investment ahead of a packed schedule of elite international competition. “West Indies teams will participate in at least six global events over the next 24 to 30 months, including the Men’s World Cup Qualifier next February,” Bascombe noted. “Bob’s immediate job is to raise the technical standard heading into these events.”

  • BTV’s Sarstoon Ritual, Will GAF Stop Them?

    BTV’s Sarstoon Ritual, Will GAF Stop Them?

    For 15 consecutive years, Wil Maheia has made the same journey every September: loading up his boats and steering toward a disputed stretch of the Sarstoon River, the contested border between Belize and Guatemala. And just as consistently, the Belizean government has attempted to dissuade him and his group from making the trip. This year is no exception – but the long-running standoff has taken an unexpected turn ahead of the 2026 journey.

    Maheia leads the Belize Territorial Volunteers (BTV), a grassroots group that organizes an annual patriotic pilgrimage to the Sarstoon River every September, coinciding with Belize’s national independence celebrations. The trip has a history of sparking tense confrontations: in previous years, encounters have unfolded between BTV members, Belize’s own national security forces, and Guatemalan patrols operating in the long-disputed border zone.

    This year, official warnings came earlier than usual. Belize’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a public caution alerting citizens to the inherent safety risks of traveling into the contested territory. But for Maheia, who has navigated this annual pushback for more than a decade and a half, the early warning was nothing new – and far from unexpected.

    “Every year we face pushback,” Maheia noted in comments ahead of Thursday’s planned trip. “For over fifteen years we have been going there, and the pushback varies in intensity from year to year. This year’s pushback wasn’t really necessary, but we always expected it would come.”

    To Maheia, the government’s warning is not a genuine act of concern for citizen safety, but a deliberate attempt to discourage Belizeans from asserting sovereignty over their own territorial border. Rather than backing down in the face of official pressure, he has leaned into the timing of the trip, framing it as a core expression of national independence.

    “Our entire goal is to travel to the Sarstoon peacefully as proud Belizeans, and that is entirely in the spirit of our independence,” he explained. “This is our independence month, and we are here to show all Belize where our country’s borders lie. That is all we plan to do: go there, mark our border, and celebrate our nation.”

    In a surprising twist, however, the official pushback that Maheia has criticized for years has ultimately worked in the group’s favor. In the days leading up to the planned pilgrimage, BTV opened direct channels of communication with two of Belize’s key national security bodies: the Belize Defence Force and the Belize Coast Guard. During those discussions, the group laid out every detail of their planned route and activities on the river.

    Far from rejecting the plan, security officials accepted BTV’s outlined itinerary, clearing the way for what Maheia says will be a peaceful, uneventful journey.

    “I actually think the Ministry’s pushback ended up working out well for everyone,” Maheia said. “Because in the end, it opened the door for dialogue with BDF personnel and the Coast Guard. We laid out our plan clearly, they accepted it, and now tomorrow is going to be a great day. We are heading to the Sarstoon, we will go to the forward operating base, and we will make it clear to every Belizean that our border starts at the Sarstoon.”

    Maheia reaffirmed that the group’s core plans have not changed despite the months of back and forth with officials. He stressed that a strict no-weapons policy remains in place for all participants, no exceptions, and the entire event will remain entirely peaceful, focused solely on patriotic assertion of Belizean territorial sovereignty.

  • Cuba’s health system under siege: Lives behind the numbers

    Cuba’s health system under siege: Lives behind the numbers

    In a press address to global and domestic media on September 7, 2026, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla unveiled the most recent comprehensive assessment of harms inflicted by the United States economic and energy blockade on Cuba, covering the period from March 2025 to February 2026. He emphasized a critical, often overlooked truth: the decades-old blockade is not a distant geopolitical tool, but an unrelenting, daily attack on the fundamental right to life for ordinary Cuban people.

    Nowhere is the blockade’s cruelty more pronounced than in the country’s hospitals and clinics, where widespread energy shortages have turned routine care into a life-or-death struggle. Newborns relying on life-sustaining incubators and mechanical ventilators are left exposed during frequent power outages, and medical staff have been forced to manually pump air to keep infants alive when grid and backup systems fail. Surgeons have completed urgent procedures by the dim light of rechargeable flashlights and even cell phone screens, with no alternative available when electricity cuts out mid-operation.

    Despite widespread investments in solar infrastructure to shield critical healthcare services, ongoing energy restrictions have crippled hospital operations across the island. Ambulance fleets lack sufficient fuel to respond to emergencies, dialysis treatment for patients with kidney failure is regularly interrupted, and more than 7,000 shipping containers holding desperately needed medications remain stuck outside Cuban ports, leaving families to endure agonizing searches for scarce life-saving drugs.

    Leading Cuban clinicians have shared on-the-ground accounts of this ongoing crisis. Dr. Niurka Moreno Obregón, head of neonatology at a leading Havana hospital, explained that most mechanical ventilators lack backup batteries, leaving staff no choice but to step in when generators fail during blackouts. Dr. Yudmila Rodríguez Verdecia, chief anesthesiologist, recalled high-stakes surgeries carried out under cell phone illumination: “The surgery cannot be stopped. We are plunged into complete darkness, and we keep working.”

    The crisis hits children with cancer particularly hard. Each year, between 300 and 400 Cuban children receive a cancer diagnosis, and their survival depends on consistent access to specialized medications and radiation equipment that requires a stable energy supply. For families, this means living in constant fear of treatment interruption. Licet Rodríguez Alonso, the mother of 15-year-old cancer patient Diego, shared her anguish: “Diego is in the middle of radiation, but there’s no fuel for the generators. How will those machines run? If the hospital shuts down, how can I keep my son’s treatment going?”

    The cumulative impact of the blockade’s restrictions has left Cuba with a backlog of more than 100,000 patients waiting for life-improving or life-saving surgery, 12,000 of whom are children. Fuel shortages have disrupted cold chain transport for vaccines, leaving more than 30,000 children waiting for scheduled immunizations. An additional 2,888 patients dependent on regular haemodialysis face unstable, interrupted care, as the treatment requires a steady energy supply that the country’s strained grid can no longer guarantee.

    Global health and international leaders have increasingly voiced urgent alarm over the humanitarian crisis. On May 7, 2026, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed that “health must be protected at all costs and must never be left at the mercy of geopolitics, energy blockades, or blackouts.” The UN Resident Coordinator in Cuba has warned that 32,000 pregnant people face elevated risk of complications due to care gaps, while a spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General has echoed deep concern for thousands of cancer patients unable to access life-saving radiotherapy or chemotherapy.

    The collected statistics from the report paint a devastating picture of the human toll, with each number representing individual lives and families upended by the blockade. The island’s infant mortality rate has jumped from 4 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2018 to 9 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2025, a 148% increase. Of the 395 essential pharmaceuticals classified as critical for public health, 300 are currently unavailable across the country. Childhood and youth cancer survival rates have plummeted from 85% a decade ago to just 65% in 2025.

    Beyond the public health system disruptions, the US blockade actively blocks Cuba from purchasing a wide range of life-saving advanced medications from major international pharmaceutical manufacturers. These include common first-line cancer treatments such as Pemetrexed produced by Eli Lilly, Palbociclib from Pfizer, Brentuximab vedotin from Seattle Genetics, Pembrolizumab from MSD, and Nivolumab from Bristol Myers Squibb. Vital specialized medical equipment for pediatric cardiology and genetic care, including HeartMate 3 and PediMag cardiac pumps for children with severe congenital heart conditions, also remain inaccessible due to trade restrictions.

    Even basic diagnostic supplies are blocked: Phytohemagglutinin, a reagent critical for routine neonatal genetic testing, cannot be imported, forcing the suspension of testing and care planning for 140 patients in 2025 alone.

    In closing, the report frames the blockade’s disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable segments of Cuban society — newborns, sick children, elderly patients, and low-income families — as having a clear genocidal character. Behind every statistic is a human story: an infant fighting for breath when a ventilator fails, a birthing mother delivering in total darkness, a family watching a loved one suffer without access to affordable treatment, and a clinician working against all odds to save a life with insufficient tools. The blockade is not an abstract policy debate: it is collective punishment inflicted on an entire people, and its cost is measured in human lives.

  • Community Invited to Review Final Plans for Nelson’s Dockyard National Park

    Community Invited to Review Final Plans for Nelson’s Dockyard National Park

    Nelson’s Dockyard National Park’s long-awaited draft Marine Spatial Plan and Natural Resources Management Plan have reached their final public validation stage, and local organizers are reaching out to all residents and industry stakeholders to take part in a crucial upcoming workshop to shape the future of the protected area.

    Scheduled for Thursday, 24 September 2026, from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM at the Events Center in Long Hall, Officers’ Quarters within Nelson’s Dockyard, the workshop is designed to center local knowledge and community input. Unlike closed-door planning sessions, this event gives everyday community members direct access to review the full draft proposals, ask clarifying questions of planning teams, and share generations of lived experience with the park’s land, coastal, and marine territories. This on-the-ground insight is seen as critical to creating plans that balance ecological protection with the needs of people who rely on the park’s resources.

    Discussion topics planned for the workshop cover a wide range of core management issues that touch both conservation and local livelihoods. Attendees will dive into pollution and waste reduction strategies, formal designation of different marine use zones, zoning for protected conservation areas, priority fishing zones, and spaces allocated for other marine activities. The session will also cover agreed management priorities for land, coastal, and marine ecosystems across the park, as well as the overarching governance framework that will guide plan implementation once finalized.

    Organizers have specifically encouraged broad participation from a diverse cross-section of groups, including individual local residents, civil society organizations, private sector representatives, independent fisherfolk, local farmers, and stakeholders across the marine, fisheries, and tourism sectors that depend on the health of Nelson’s Dockyard’s ecosystems. Anyone interested in attending is asked to register in advance via the official form at https://forms.gle/zowf6GeXFnDznNeW7.

    The development of the two management plans is being carried out as part of the broader EbA Caribbean Project, led by the Centre of Excellence for Oceanography and the Blue Economy (COBE) at The University of the West Indies Five Islands campus. Local on-the-ground implementation at Nelson’s Dockyard National Park is being handled by Integrated Health Outreach, working in formal partnership with the Antigua and Barbuda National Parks Authority. The entire initiative receives funding from the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund, which supports ecosystem-based adaptation and conservation work across the Caribbean region.

  • GHTA free PSA screening programme for 100 Men

    GHTA free PSA screening programme for 100 Men

    For men across Grenada, particularly those working in the key tourism and hospitality sector, a valuable free health opportunity is coming next September, as the Grenada Hotel and Tourism Association (GHTA) confirms the return of its popular no-cost Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) screening initiative. Aligned with global Prostate Cancer Awareness Month observances, the programme underscores GHTA’s long-standing commitment to prioritizing the physical and mental wellbeing of the community that powers Grenada’s top tourism industry.

    Running from September 1 to 30, 2026, the screening initiative is made possible through funding from GHTA’s Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), with on-the-ground delivery in partnership with local Allied Medical Laboratory. The programme will reserve 100 free screening slots for eligible men aged 40 and older, with services available at any Allied Medical Laboratory clinic location across the country.

    Unlike many private health screenings that come with out-of-pocket costs, this initiative removes financial barriers to early prostate cancer detection, a critical step in improving long-term health outcomes for at-risk men. Prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer affecting men globally, and routine PSA screening allows clinicians to catch abnormal changes early, when interventions are most effective. For GHTA, expanding accessible health services to tourism workers – the backbone of Grenada’s economy – is core to the organization’s mission of building a resilient, sustainable tourism sector.

    “The strength of our tourism industry is rooted in the people who work tirelessly to serve our visitors and represent Grenada to the world,” said GHTA Chief Executive Officer Arlene Friday. “Supporting their wellbeing is therefore an important part of building a strong and sustainable tourism sector. Through our Tourism Enhancement Fund, we are pleased to continue providing initiatives that extend beyond the traditional boundaries of tourism work and create meaningful benefits for our members and the wider Grenadian community.”

    Friday emphasized that eligible men, especially those employed across Grenada’s hotels, resorts, restaurants, and tourism support services, should prioritize pre-registering as soon as possible to secure their spot. Slots are limited exclusively to the first 100 eligible applicants, and no walk-in appointments will be accommodated due to the limited allocation of free tests.

    To qualify for the free screening, applicants must be men aged 40 or older, complete pre-registration via the official form linked by GHTA, and attend their appointment at an Allied Medical Laboratory clinic during the September 2026 programme window. All screening costs are covered fully by TEF, with no hidden fees for qualifying participants.

    GHTA closed its announcement by extending formal gratitude to both its community partner Allied Medical Laboratory and the Tourism Enhancement Fund. Without their combined support, the organization noted, this critical public health initiative would not be possible, reinforcing the impact of cross-sector collaboration to support worker wellbeing in Grenada’s most economically vital industry.