Ministry of Health is implementing the
Smart Health Facilities Project, with technical cooperation from
PAHO/WHO and financing from the United Kingdom and the European
Union.

The Belize City, 22 February 2019
(PAHO)- Eleven hospitals and health centers and a laboratory in
Belize will be retrofitted to make them safer, “green” and able
to continue operating during emergencies and disasters as part of the
Smart Health Facilities Project, a Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO) initiative, financed by the United Kingdom’s Department for
International Development (UKaid) and the European Union.

The Matron Roberts, Cleopatra White,
Independece II and Isabel Palma I polyclinics, as well as the San
Ignacio community hospital and the Palm Center, were selected to form
part of the initiative following an assessment of country priorities
and the facilities’ vulnerability to disaster risks. The Western
Regional Hospital, the Northern Regional Hospital and the Southern
Regional Hospital, as well as the Punta Gorda and Corozal Community
hospitals and the Central Medical Laboratory will also form part of
this initiative.

“PAHO has been working on disaster
prevention and response for 40 years and this has enabled many
countries in the Americas to be better prepared to face them,” said
the Director of PAHO, Dr. Carissa F. Etienne, during her official
visit to the country. “To save more lives, we need health centers
with plans in place as well as better prepared communities,” she
added.

In Latin America and the Caribbean,
seven out of ten hospitals are located in areas at high risk of
disasters, which can leave them out of service in the event of a
hurricane, earthquake or flood. The health sector is also a
contributor to climate change and faces high energy and water costs,
particularly in small island states.

“When disaster strikes, hospitals
must remain accessible to people and must be able to operate at full
capacity in order to provide care to those affected by an emergency
as well as to regular patients that need care,” said Dr. Ciro
Ugarte, Director of the Department of Health Emergencies at PAHO.

Ugarte explained that the project will
enable select health centers to be retrofitted in order to become
resilient and sustainable – by reducing operating costs-, as well
as to be more efficient service providers and more environmentally
friendly.

Claire Bruce, Deputy High Commissioner
of the British High Commission in Belize said that, for her country,
“it is an honor to support this project because it has a real
impact on peoples’ lives”. She said that the United Kingdom is
supporting the second phase of the Smart Health Facilities Initiative
in 7 Caribbean countries with more than 39 million pounds-sterling.
The Project is being implemented in Dominica, Belize Grenada, Guyana,
Jamaica, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The European Union also joined the
Project in Belize. Nicolaus Hansmann, Head of the European Union team
in Belize, highlighted the contribution of 7 million euros for the
project – which also includes a laboratory – and said that this
support not only seeks to ensure changes to the facilities, but also
aims to improve the quality of care and contribute to the country’s
national health plan. Hansmann mentioned that the creation of a
national implementation committee will be important to ensure project
accountability.

The Project in Belize has advanced in a
variety of ways. So far, a safety assessment has been carried out in
the facilitates using a guide developed by PAHO, as well as an index
that determines how green they are and what measures can be taken to
reduce their carbon footprint. The redesign of the first six selected
health institutions has also been completed, staff have been trained
and meetings held with the community in order to receive their input.
The first works are expected to begin within the next 3 months in the
San Ignacio community hospital.

“It is imperative that we prepare
ourselves to become more resilient,” said Ángel Campos, Secretary
of State for Health at the Belize Ministry of Health. “Valuable
contributions from international partners and local work will enable
us to be better prepared to face natural disasters in the future,”
he added.

Dr. Noreen Jack, PAHO/WHO
Representative in Belize said that the initiative is timely as
“climate change is upon us. The health sector must therefore be
prepared and resilient when natural and other disasters strike.”

The interventions that will be carried
out to ensure that the health facilities are more resilient include
improvements to the ceilings so that they can withstand heavy rain,
wind and hurricanes; structural improvements to prevent buildings
from collapsing in the event of an earthquake; and the installation
of solar panels to enable energy savings. Changes are also foreseen
in the circulation of patients and the work of health personnel, as
well as to improve ventilation and ensure that the facilities are
more accessible for people with disabilities. Together, all of these
interventions will ensure the provision of better quality health care
for the population.