The Ministry of Health and Wellness is establishing a national climate change and health focal point unit.Minister Ian Gooding-Edghill made the announcement on Tuesday while delivering remarks at the 30th Pan American Sanitary Conference in Washington on the topic, Leveraging Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic to address the Region’s Mental Health Challenges for the Future.He indicated that one of the unit’s first tasks will be to develop and implement a framework for comprehensive vulnerability assessment.Noting that Barbados has been fortunate to benefit from several Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) train-the-trainer workshops that addressed mental health in the immediate and long-term aftermath of a natural disaster, Gooding-Edghill said similar activities can be extended to all first responders in the post-disaster period.
