HEALTH MANPOWER UNIT IN CARICOM

The Secretariat will implement the project with assistance from NCIH. A Health Manpower Unit (HMU), to be headed by a senior-level Caribbean national and supported by participating CARICOM countries, will be established within the CARICOM Secretariat. Working with member countries (through an individual from the Ministry of Health of each country who will serve as his country"s health manpower coordinator), the HMU will: (1) develop a framework for analyzing and prioritizing health manpower needs in CARICOM countries; (2) analyze actual needs in terms of this framework; and (3) develop a regional health manpower plan to meet these priority needs. The latter will be developed with the help of an Advisory Committee composed of representatives of USAID and participating PVO"s such as Project Hope, the Pan American Health Organization, and the International Eye Foundation. In addition, the HMU will work with CARICOM countries to provide technical services to meet specific health manpower problems and to identify and provide short-term support services to volunteer health personnel assigned to meet immediate manpower shortages. The HMU will also work with the University of the West Indies, U.S. PVO"s, and other health manpower resources in designing education and training programs within CARICOM countries to meet priority PHC needs. Finally, NCIH will assist the CARICOM Secretariat in developing, as a specialized part of the NCIH Health Manpower Assistance Clearinghouse, a list of U.S. PVO"s and of individual health specialists -- especially Caribbean nationals living in the United States -- who can help meet immediate health manpower needs of CARICOM countries. Information for the clearinghouse will be updated on a regular basis and will be transferred to and maintained by the HMU upon termination of the project.