State Secretary of Public Health, Welfare and Sport Paul Blokhuis.
PHILIPSBURG--Dutch State Secretary of Public Health, Welfare and Sport Paul Blokhuis will visit a number of care facilities in Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten from Thursday, June 22, to Wednesday, June 27.
All health care, elderly care and child welfare in the Caribbean Netherlands are the responsibility of the state secretary of Public Health, Welfare and Sport.
Blokhuis especially wants to discuss possibilities for extra efforts in the prevention policy for the public entities Bonaire, Saba and Statia with politicians, professionals and residents during his visit.
Prevention is a point of concern, because there are a relatively large number of overweight people in the Caribbean Netherlands, many people move insufficiently, the consumption of alcohol is relatively high, and many children have to deal with passive smoking.
Blokhuis starts his visit by participating in the Four-Country Conference (Vierlandenconferentie) in Curaçao today, Friday. At this conference government officials of Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and the Netherlands make agreements on mutual support with the introduction and implementation of the international health regulations of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom.
In St. Maarten, Blokhuis will be visiting St. Maarten Medical Centre, among other places. He will also discuss the consequences of Hurricane Irma for the care for St. Maarten residents and residents of the other Windward Islands who depend on care provided in St. Maarten.
