Health Ministry Develop First National Community Health Plan

The Ministry of Health and Wellness gathered with various partners this week to develop a national community health strategic plan. The Ministry held the first-ever stakeholder forum in Belize City yesterday, spearheaded by the Health Education and Community Participation Bureau (HECOBAP). At the forum, the Ministry sought feedback from various government entities and partner agencies on the development of the strategy.  It also sought to formalize a national community health technical working group. The participants discussed how they could leverage in-kind donations to assist community health workers in rural areas. Kathleen Azueta Cho, Technical Advisor for HECOPAB, said that the overall goal of the plan will be to improve the care offered through the community health worker program.

Kathleen Azueta Cho, Technical Advisory, HECOPAB: “So really we’re trying to find ways of strengthening our community health worker program which falls under the Ministry of Health and Wellness.  And by having a strategic plan like this we are hoping to look at areas that could be improved. Community health workers are found country-wide and they  are oftentimes the first point of contact when it comes to providing basic health services, when it comes to providing health education, looking at surveillance, the monitoring of non-communicable diseases and communicable diseases. So by having this stakeholder forum we are one step in strengthening this program and having a policy document in place to to formalize a program that is very important in the health system,  particularly in primary health.”

The national community health strategic plan 2025-2030 is being supported by various international partners such as UNICEF.