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Today was the first in a three-day training workshop designed to educate healthcare providers about new methods for diagnosing mosquito borne viruses like Zika, Dengue and Chik-V. 

It’s the product of a new partnership with the Mexican Ministry of Health and PAHO. Belize’s Ministry of Health’s Epidemiologist Russel Manzanero, told us how we benefited from this new relationship, especially with the prevalence of Zika…

Dr. Russel Manzanero - Epidemiologist, Min of Health
"What we're currently engaging in right now is a training that's being carried out for health personnel, vector control, public health, infection control nurses from the Ministry of Health and as well we invited a few of the private and other institutions to familiarise and get on board on what is viral surveillance training. We have been trying to diagnose it's not only Zika; Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya, Malaria so we know that we had certain limitations without referral lab in CARFA so as a Ministry of Health we reached out to PAHO to let us see where we can get additional testing. So with that PAHO in Mexico City reach back and they said they well we can do training and see what we can do with your surveillance. So with that we have been working with them from July looking at algorithms, looking at guidelines so this week we have our end product, we're trying to establish that support with the Mexican authorities. We're working with Secretaría de Salud Mexico with the lab in InDRE that's in Mexico City so what we're trying to do is actually get that collaboration with them, that support we can do additional testing in another place in Mexico now so that will open doors and additional testing that we probably wouldn't have been able to carry out in CARFA."

Earlier this month the World Health Organization declared that the spread of Zika was no longer a global health emergency, however Manzanero told us that the Ministry and other health partners are still keeping a close eye on the dangerous virus.