PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad: Public health surveillance systems in Barbados and the regional system at the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) in Trinidad and Tobago have been strengthened to help detect outbreaks or possible acts of biological terrorism and to enable prompt and appropriate public health response during the Cricket World Cup 2007.
This was revealed by the Barbados Health Minister Dr Jerome Walcott, who heads the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) sub-committee on Health for CWC 2007 as he delivered the opening address at the 3rd World Congress of Science and Medicine in Cricket in Barbados.
Walcott expressed pride in the role played by the Ministries of Health in the preparations for staging the tournament. He said that his Ministry had to enhance several key services in ensuring that the health of the nationals, residents and visitors was maintained at the highest level possible.
This included, among other measures, the enhancement of laboratory capacity in the nine host countries and at CAREC to support outbreak investigations, with specific focus on rapid diagnosis of diseases of public health importance, exotic diseases not endemic in this region and of course bio-threats. He also cited the web-based reporting tool developed with a “real-time” reporting of syndromes from all countries to CAREC.
The Congress coincides with the hosting of Cricket World Cup 2007, continuing a trend of being linked with the Cricket World Cup, with similar conferences having been held in England and South Africa in 1999 and 2003 respectively. | 
