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Antigua and Barbuda health officials warn of dengue epidemic

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Chief Medical Officer Dr Rhonda Sealey-Thomas  has confirmed “an outbreak” of dengue in the country.

There has been an increase in cases since August, with the number of cases rising from two to three cases a week to about 80 cases a month with children one to 14 years old the most affected by the disease.

Dr Sealey-Thomas said they noticed an increase in patients exhibiting clinical dengue symptoms, specifically undifferentiated fever for which they carried out further investigations.

Acute undifferentiated fever (AUF) is a temporary febrile illness accompanied by non-specific symptoms.

“Coming down to the end of last year, we started seeing an increase in undifferentiated fever,” she said.

“For instance, coming down with high fever and we did realize at that time that we did see an increase in the cases of dengue and that continued for a while up until early 2019.

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“We continued testing and we saw a decrease in the number of cases earlier this year and then what has happened and what we continue to see since August, something happened and we soon started to see an increase in the number of patients coming down with fever, rash, joint pain and we did have confirmation again that we had dengue in Antigua and Barbuda.”

In an attempt to combat the situation, Sealey-Thomas revealed that a dengue task force (adhoc committee) has been revived.

“We have over the years gotten a committee that we put in place, an ADHOC committee that we reconvene whenever there is a dengue situation in Antigua and Barbuda. It’s multi-disciplinary and we convene those meetings and started to look more seriously at those situations and that included special surveillance, we had sessions with the division, reeducating them, letting them know the guidelines that have been published by PAHO.

“The purpose of that task force is to monitor the situation and take control measures to reduce mobility that is with the illness and complication of dengue,” she added.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), severe dengue is a leading cause of serious illness and death among children and adults in some Asian and Latin American countries but in Antigua and Barbuda, only one death has been linked to dengue complications thus far.

That incident according to reports occurred in March of this year.

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One response to “Antigua and Barbuda health officials warn of dengue epidemic”

  1. my 2¢…..I don’t understand that the system keep on stating the increase of dengue and not analyze the same department that preach this is the same department that is causing it…..
    Elaborating …..The department that grade down and up root bushes to help clean Antigua is the same department causing dirty green musky water table for the breeding habit for mosquitos , bushes are there for important reasons such as prevention on soil erosion and to help clean and detox our air .
    Nobody thinks about shaping and trimming the bushes rather than uprooting . And still want come talk bout outbreak
    Give me a fly f#$: break and try analyze the shit inside out..

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REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

(CONSULTING SERVICES – INDIVIDUAL SELECTION)

 

OECS MSME Guarantee Facility Project

Loan No.: IDA-62670, IDA-62660, IDA-62640, IBRD-88830, IDA-62650

Assignment Title: Senior Operating Officer (SOO)

Reference No. KN-ECPCGC-207852-CS-INDV

 

The Governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have received financing in the amount of US$10 million equivalent from the World Bank towards the cost of establishing a partial credit guarantee scheme, and they intend to apply part of the proceeds to payments for goods, and consulting services to be procured under this project. 

The consultant will serve as the “Senior Operating Officer (SOO)” for the ECPCGC and should possess extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to Micro, small and medium-sized businesses, knowledge of the internal control processes necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk mitigation procedures. The ideal candidate should possess an Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Accounting, Banking or related field, with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in lending, inclusive of MSME lending. The initial employment period will be for two years on a contractual basis. Renewal of the contract will be subject to a performance evaluation at the end of the contractual period. The assignment is expected to begin on September 30th, 2021.  The consultant will report directly to the Chief Executive Officer of the ECPCGC.

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be viewed by following the attached link below. 

 

https://bit.ly/3iVannm

 

The Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECPCGC) now invites eligible “Consultants” to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have:

  • An Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Finance, Banking or related field; and
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  • Extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to small and medium-sized businesses
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  • Knowledge of the internal controls necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk management procedures
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The attention of interested Individual Consultants is drawn to Section III, Paragraphs 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers July 2016, [revised November 2017] (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Approved Selection Method for Individual Consultants set out in the clause 7.34 of the World Bank Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers. 

 

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours 0800 to 1700 hours:

Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation

Brid Rock, Basseterre,

St. Kitts.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form by e-mail by August 11th, 2021, to [email protected]. 

 

For further information, please contact:

Carmen Gomez-Trigg                                                            Bernard Thomas

Chief Executive Officer                                                          Chief Financial Officer

Tel: 868-620-8144                                                                  Tel: 869-765-2385

Email: [email protected]                                          [email protected]