EDITOR’S NOTE: Towards the end of March, #HealthCaribbean featured ailments, other than COVID-19, in the Caribbean in our edition 2021-04-01. This newsletter does the same. Two countries are covered, namely: Trinidad and Tobago, and Dominican Republic. Two of our five articles are from the Dominican Republic; two about PAHO and other from Trinidad.
Our headline, taken from NationNews Barbados, reads: “New Programme To Tackle Diabetes”. The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) advises that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has a new Global Diabetes Compact which will augment efforts being made in the Caribbean, and elsewhere, to prevent and treat diabetes.
Research at the Trinidad and Tobago IVF & Fertility Centre has indicated that six out of ten men, in a clinic setting, produce abnormal sperm, which would make it the primary cause of infertility; though further research is needed. In the Dominican Republic, their National Epidemiological Surveillance System has linked 10 deaths to 19 cases of diphtheria.
Otherwise, 21 persons have died in the Dominican Republic from adulterated alcoholic drinks, and the Police, Public Health inspectors, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office have increased their effort to seize and dismantle factories producing such beverages. However, PAHO indicates that alcohol consumption is a problem in the Americas in general.