Above: Grenada

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The virus has not come to Grenada, but Grenada’s Ministry of Health has formed a new mult-stakeholder task force on the health threats posed by the Chikungunya and dengue viruses in the Caribbean.

Grenada Health Minister Dr Clarice Modeste-Curwen said the task force would “consider ways to prevent and manage the Chikungunya should it enter Grenada.”

The Chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne illness, has spread across the Caribbean region.

“This is a terrific initiative because the better prepared you are the faster you are going to make a response, the faster you make a response the fewer the cases are going to be so having all the experts together to come up with appropriate solutions that are affordable, appropriate for our situation in Grenada,” said Dr Calum Macpherson, the vice provost of Grenada’s St George’s University.

Dengue, another mosquito-borne illness, has been present in the Caribbean region for several years.

Chikungunya was first recorded in the Caribbean on the island of St Martin/St Maarten, which has similarly taken steps to deal with the virus.