The Ministry of Health on Wednesday signed a Service Delivery Agreement with the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) to further strengthen the implementation of the Guyana One Health Project.
The agreement is financed through the World Bank’s Pandemic Fund and an International Development Association (IDA) Credit to the Government of Guyana.
The Guyana One Health Project is designed to strengthen the country’s capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats by upgrading laboratory systems, expanding disease surveillance, improving emergency preparedness, and reinforcing coordination across the human, animal, and environmental health sectors.
The initiative will also strengthen Guyana’s International Health Regulations (IHR) core capacities while enhancing resilience against zoonotic and emerging diseases.
The agreement formalises collaboration between the Ministry of Health and PAHO/WHO to deliver targeted technical activities, including laboratory strengthening, disease surveillance and emergency response, workforce training, and multisectoral One Health coordination.
These activities will be supported through approximately US$1.78 million in funding provided by the Pandemic Fund Grant and IDA Credit through the World Bank to the Government of Guyana.
Delivering remarks at the signing ceremony, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony welcomed the continued support of the Pandemic Fund, the World Bank, and PAHO/WHO, emphasising that human resource development will be a critical component of the project.
“We will train and hire new people under this project because, to achieve what we intend to do, we currently do not have all the human resources that are required. This project will provide us with the opportunity to recruit and build that capacity,” Minister Anthony said.
The minister further noted that while Guyana has made significant progress in strengthening its public health system, the project aims to transform existing systems and build even greater resilience.
“This technical component that we will be working on with PAHO is extremely important, and I hope that the staff and all of our partner agencies will take this very seriously,” he added.
The signing ceremony was also attended by Hubert Forrester, Representative of the World Bank Country Office; Dr Kim Eva Dickson, PAHO/WHO Representative for Guyana; and Dr Anand Persaud, Technical Lead for the Guyana One Health Project.