 The recent pandemic exposed deficiencies within the health systems of many countries. The world began attempts at returning to normal in 2023 after the World Health Organization declared an end to COVID-19 as a public health threat. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs Jenny Daniel recounts some of the areas within St. Lucia's health sector which was worst affected. The COVID-19 pandemic affected every aspect of our lives. However, the health sector was particularly hard hit as a need for an effective response placed unprecedented demands on the infrastructure, human resources, equipment, pharmaceuticals, diagnostic services and all other components of the health service delivery in St. Lucia. Yet, in the face of this adversity, we have continued to show resilience, unity and unwavering determination as we proceed with our health sector reforms. In response to the shortcomings of the health sector during that period, the government of St. Lucia embarked on various strategies focused on capacity building. One such strategy included partnering with the Inter-American Development Bank IDB and the European Investment Bank IEB through the Caribbean Development Bank CDB to host a two-day regional workshop. CDB's division chief of projects, Ms. Therese Turner-Jones, says coming out of the COVID period, the organization sees it necessary to improve regional health. The pandemic really just underlined, underscored some of the structural weaknesses in our health systems and the fact that while agencies like CDB and others are trying to build resilience, economic resilience, internal social resilience, financial resilience, all the good things that development institutions like to do, what we realize that the regional health is really the wealth of this region. And for St. Lucia, I would say, as we would say in the Bahamas, you know, the health of the nation is the wealth of the nation. Chief of Operations of the Country Development in Barbados at the Inter-American Development Bank, Mr. Jean-Eric Fianot says the collaboration represents a commitment to the sustainable growth and development of the region. The project that we are launching this morning is critical for the country as it focuses on strengthening resilience and supporting recovery. This project has been made possible under a 50 million US dollar loan facility established between the IDB and the CDB in November 2020 to support the response of Eastern Caribbean countries to the health, economic and social consequences of the pandemic. Representative for the Southern and Eastern Caribbean European Investment Bank, IEB, Ms. Christina Isley says though their main focus for the region over the years has been on climate action, the devastation caused by the pandemic led to a change of plans. So these were funds that were committed to climate action and we decided to re-channel 30 million euros towards health resilience in the Caribbean to really support countries to address the COVID-19 crisis, which as many have stated is still ongoing. So this EIB project in St. Lucia that is totaling almost 10 million US dollars is part of that funding and this is one of three projects in Eastern Caribbean that will benefit from this EIB funding that was re-channeled from climate action. Health Minister Moses Jabatist encouraged the participants to put their best foot forward and aim for excellence at the workshop. The health minister went on to see that the post-COVID period has created opportunities to create new knowledge from the experiences within the region which can be translated into solutions. Whatever we're doing here we must demonstrate to the IDB and to the CDB and to the EIB that we are going to create experiences, we are going to document those experiences scientifically and possibly share them with the world and who knows one of you may well become a world famous offer in a particular experience. The two-day session focused on building capacity and resilience in the health sector to respond to COVID-19 and building public health system resilience within the region. Jade Brown reporting for the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs.