Final preparations are being made for the 4thCaribbean Conference on National Health Financing to be held at the Westin Resort from November 17 to 19 which St. Maarten is hosting this year.
Commissioner of Public Health Hyacinth Richardson is encouraging local health and insurance sector organizations to participate in the conference next week.
The feature address will be delivered by Antillean Minister of Public Health Omayra Leeflang. The Minister in her address will focus on the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles and health finance reform initiatives.
A decision was made a few years ago by the Heads of Social Security Organizations to establish a forum for discussing approaches, issues and challenges in national health financing.
The St. Maarten conference will bring together representatives of social security organizations from Belize, The Bahamas, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Suriname, Curacao, Aruba, British Virgin Islands, the French Caribbean territories and Trinidad & Tobago, and directors of health insurance agencies and ministries of health, to share information on progress and challenges in national health financing initiatives.
Conference attendees will examine issues in overseas care, governance and information technology as well as explore the financing implications of broader health reform programmes.
Ruben Suarez from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) out of Washington DC will present a paper on international developments in national health financing and its impact of economic recession on health financing initiatives.
Previous health financing conferences were held in Trinidad & Tobago (2008), Aruba (2007) and Turks & Caicos (2006).
Local health and insurance sector organizations including those from the private sector are encouraged to participate by registering via the website www.ccnhfi.com