 Welcome to Nation Beat. I am Genelle Norville bringing you this brief on the pulse of our nation and highlights around the heart of St. Lucia. The Government of St. Lucia is taking a new approach to project implementation and development. The redevelopment of castries takes shape in a major consultation forum and cementing the message that small properties are entitled to the same initiatives. The Government of St. Lucia is taking a new approach to project implementation and development. The Department of Economic Development, Transport and Civil Aviation is spearheading the Medium-Term Development Strategy 2019-2022 with the aim of achieving an inclusive and sustainable St. Lucia by 2022. According to Minister for Economic Development, Honourable Guy Joseph, the strategy will focus on six key results areas that comprise free economic pillars which are tourism, agriculture and infrastructure and three social areas which are healthcare, education and national security. Collectively, these sectors represent some of the most important areas that affect the lives of every St. Lucia. We believe that with the discussions taking place in St. Lucia today that healthcare is top priority. And most recently from the World Bank it has been clearly indicated that healthcare and education are not just on the social side but has a direct impact on the economic output of any country and so it can fit either on the social side or on the economic side because if you have a healthy nation, the level of productivity is greater. If you have a well-educated and equipped workforce, your output is also greater. So this would have a direct impact on the economic side of the equation. The government is being supported by the Caribbean Development Bank for a technical assistance loan to assist in the preparation of the strategy. CDB's Director of Economics, Justin Ram provided some insight into the strategy. The government will then publish details of the medium-term development strategy and the implementation plans that go along with that. And then it's a task of now setting out how do you go about implementing this so that these plans are no longer like the plans that we tend to see in most of our joint member countries, glossy documents, but at the end of the day they are never implemented. This approach that we are proposing here is meant to now eradicate that particular issue and it is now a focus on strategic implementation of these plans. That means that we will also be facilitating the setting up of what's called a delivery unit within the centre of government. Vimandu Associates will be undertaking phase one of the project, which consists of the labs engagement or intensive stakeholder workshops. According to St. Dusha's Social and Economic Labs Engagement Manager, Christopher Chu, during phase one the labs will identify issues and opportunities, priority solutions and develop detailed implementation plans for execution over the next four years. After the completion of phase one, phase two will commence and will involve the establishment of a delivery unit within the government of St. Dusha. The final stage of this process is what we would term the lab stage. And during this stage stakeholders from all the key result areas will detail out implementation plans for the projects that have been already identified. These implementation plans include budget requirements, government structures, any policy amendments that will need to be made, and so on and so forth. Key performance indicators will also be developed for each project and initiative so that every project that is established will achieve the goals set out for the overall key result area. Also during this stage, details for the establishment of a delivery unit will be finalized including the structure, roles and responsibilities, manpower requirements and other aspects. Phase one will be implemented from the 19th November to the 14th December. Upon the completion of phase one, phase two will commence in January 2019. The Ministry of Finance hosted a one-day meeting Friday to discuss the redevelopment of castries and review the existing national vision plan adopted a decade ago. Lisa Joseph has more on the castries urban forum. In 2008, a national vision plan for castries was approved. However, since then, very little implementation of that plan has taken place. Mayor of Castries, his worship, Peterson Francis, says in order for the capital city to take advantage of new global and economic opportunities, there must be a change to the landscape. We live in a rapidly urbanizing spare, and in that regard, St. Lucia and castries in particular is prepared to embark on its new urbanization. Ladies and gentlemen, this forum which have my full endorsement needs to lead the way. We are discussing St. Lucia's urbanization today, but let us be mindful that the world at large will be urbanized during our lifetime. 2011 was a year when, for the first time in history, more than 50% of people live in cities. By the year 2030, the global urban population would have doubled. If managed well, urbanization can create huge opportunities. The Executing Agency for the Castries Redevelopment Project is the National Integrating Implementation Planning Unit, which is located in the Ministry of Finance. An estimated 60 persons attended the forum, which followed a series of smaller focus group meetings that were held in the months of October by the National Integrating Implementation Planning Unit. Corintha Thomas is the Director of Finance. Central to our approach is the conduct of consultations with all relevant stakeholders, via a combination of thematic focus group meetings, individual and agency discussions. It is hoped that with this forum, we can have an integrated and shared vision across all sectors and varied interests. The Technical Arm of the United Nations, the UN Office for Project Services, UNOPS, is advising the Government of St. Lucia on the Urbanization Project. Program Manager Christopher Roberts says UNOPS is bringing its wealth of expertise and experience to the Castries Redevelopment Program. Through the leveraging of our international expertise and the provision of cutting-edge planning tools and techniques, UNOPS is working with the Government to improve its ability to develop planning frameworks that support evidence-based decision-making. Today is an important step in the planning process for Castries and as we seek to determine the vision and development path that will allow Castries to become a sustainable, resilient, vibrant and inclusive city for its citizens today and for future generations. The draft of the revised National Vision Plan for Castries is expected by year-end with a roadmap for implementation starting 2019. From the Government Information Service, Lisa Joseph reporting. The Ministry of Health and Wellness continues to strengthen efforts to reduce vaccine-preventable diseases in St. Lucia. Several campaigns over the years have targeted increasing the vaccination coverage among children, pregnant women, youth and the adult population on island. The Immunization Program Manager in the Ministry of Health noted however that this year's first is to introduce the Hepatitis B vaccine to newborns. Health officials are working to reduce the impact of cancers in St. Lucia through the introduction of two vaccines. The Hepatitis B birth dose and the Human Papilloma Vaccine. This is to ensure a person is vaccinated throughout their life cycle. Immunization Program Manager, Julieta Frederics-Casius explained however that immediate focus will be placed on the introduction of the Hepatitis B birth dose. So as of November 1st, we will be introducing the Hepatitis B vaccine to all of our newborns. We are currently giving all newborns the ages of 2, 4 and 6 Hepatitis B vaccine. However, there is a thrust right now to eliminate Hepatitis B virus among the population. Hepatitis B virus affects the liver which can lead to cirrhosis of the liver or liver disease and cancer of the liver. So we really want to prevent transmission from mother to child of that virus where the child or as the child grows up and becomes adult where the liver can be affected by that virus. So it's very critical that we introduce the Hepatitis B. At both it has to be given within 24 hours for it to be effective and for it to be able to produce high immunity in the infant to be able to prevent the transmission of the virus from mother to the baby. So like I said, it is not a new vaccine. It is something that is a vaccine that we have been giving to our infants and we give it at 2, 4 and 6 months. But this is just an added dose that will be given to the baby within 24 hours. Casius noted that this vaccine will be given at hospitals since it must be introduced within the first 24 hours of a newborn's life. He said all hospitals have been fully supplied and equipped to conduct the new vaccination schedule at their facilities. Saint Lucia trails behind other regional territories that have for years introduced the Hepatitis B both dose to the childhood vaccination schedule. Seven of the Caribbean islands have introduced the Hepatitis B at both. So we're actually a little behind in introducing the both dose of Hepatitis B. Also, let me add that Canada, the US, England, these are countries that has long introduced Hepatitis B at both. Vaccination experts with the Pan American Health Organization have fully endorsed the regional approach to the introduction of the Hepatitis B both dose to the childhood vaccination schedule. For the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Glenn Simon reporting. The type of service, the length of the contract, contract renewal, penalties, fees for services, termination and reconnection, fee increases and how much notice is required. The option not to receive advertisements and sharing personal information with third parties. Do not sign a contract that you are not satisfied or comfortable with. This message is brought to you as a public service announcement by Ectel, the NTRC and this station. Welcome back. The Tourism Advisory Committee on Thursday met for its final meeting as it paved the way for the establishment of the Tourism Advisory Council. The council to comprise a range of stakeholders from the private and public sectors is expected to have its legislative footing by April 2019. The committee meeting on Thursday discussed several tourism industry matters and received a presentation from the Central Statistical Office on a tourism satellite account. Honourable Dominic Fede is the Minister of Responsibility for Tourism. It's been a project that's been a long time coming and I'm glad that it's finally here. So we're getting the status of the project from the Department of Statistics and these are some of the changes that we need to ensure that we measure tourism in a holistic fashion. Minister Fede says the advisory council is to be a catalyst for growth and inclusion of the St Lucian people in the tourism sector. We are the lawyers on your side that you can get incentives. The incentives that are open to big hotels are also open to small hotels and you can qualify just as some of the bigger properties. Once you have six rooms or more then you are considered to be a hotel with associated amenities. So this continues to be our message to take you to existing small hotels who presently do not know that the law is on their side but also to ensure that we tell potential investors, people who are looking at businesses that the tourism industry is not as far from their reach as they think it is but it is actually a lot closer to them and that has to be a message that we keep telling to the people of St Lucian so that we mobilize the entire country around this vision and to participate and to make sure that they see that this is our industry. That's Nation Beat. Join us next time on NTN at 7.30pm and with a repeat at 7.30am and on this station as we fill the pulse and heart of our community. You can also catch up with us anytime on the St Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I am Channel Novel.