 Welcome to NTN Nightly, I am Anicia Antoine, The Sedition's Top Stories. Paho urges the region to respond rapidly to the mental health effects of COVID-19. St. Lucia's Health Minister lords the diplomatic cause contribution to the national COVID fight. And the annual Grosally Top Achievers still a night. St. Lucia, along with the countries of the Caribbean and Latin Americas, have been called upon to expand and invest in mental health services to cope with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The call has come from the director of the Pan American Health Organization, Dr. Carisa Etienne. Noting a mental health crisis in the region brought on by the effects of COVID-19, the Pan American Health Organization, Paho, has been helping countries increase their capacity to provide mental health support at the community levels. In her latest update to this region during a weekly press briefing, Paho director Dr. Carisa Etienne asserts that the coronavirus has exacerbated what was already a silent epidemic in our part of the world. In our region, depression and anxiety are two of the leading causes of disability. We are also home to the second highest levels of alcohol consumption in the world. And emergencies can worsen these conditions. Surveys from the three countries in our region that are most impacted by COVID-19, the United States of America, Brazil and Mexico, show that about half of adults are stressed by the pandemic. An early data showed that many are coping by using drugs and alcohol, which can create a vicious cycle that makes people more prone to and can exacerbate mental health issues. In spite of increased needs during these challenging times, mental health support may be increasingly out of reach due to strict lockdowns or as the already scarce mental health staff and budgets are reallocated to the COVID-19 response. Dr. Etienne adds that this is especially concerning for patients who are affected by COVID-19, as they don't only experience physical symptoms, but many also experience insomnia, difficulty to sleep, delirium or even depression. Doctors, nurses and health workers, she says, who are risking their lives on the front line working longer hours than ever before are facing burnout, anxiety and depression. We need governments to prioritize mental health as part of the response to the pandemic. And at the same time, countries must make investments to scale up services to hire and train additional staff. One of the most effective and efficient ways to do this is to integrate mental health and psychosocial support within primary health care systems. So they're easily accessible to those who need them most. Dr. Etienne stresses on the need for the region to work assiduously to destigmatize mental health as everyone who needs mental health support should feel comfortable asking for help and seek professional support where needed. PAHO has been helping countries to strengthen policies and services and to expand online learning for health workers so they know how to identify and support survivors of violence during the pandemic. St. Lucia's 311 Hotline offers psychosocial support services to individuals during the pandemic. Here at home, Minister for Health and Wellness, Senator Hon. Mary Isaac has lauded the Diplomatic Corps for its steadfast assistance to the government and the people of St. Lucia in the COVID fight. I want to thank all our ambassadors who have put their best foot forward. They have provided us with quite a number of PPEs, quite a lot of masks, gloves and so on. Especially the Taiwanese ambassador, the government and people of Taiwan, as well as the Cuban ambassador, the government and people of Cuba. We saw the number of nurses, a hundred and something nurses and doctors that came to us from the very beginning of this, from the onset of the virus and they have remained with us up till now. A few of them returned but the majority of them are still here with us in St. Lucia helping us to maintain our good record and to keep taking care of our people here in St. Lucia. Senator Hon. Mary Isaac. Meanwhile, the OECS Commission has made a donation of face shields to support the transition of schools to the new COVID-19 safety preparations for the 2020-2021 academic year. More in this report. The donation forms part of the Commission's Corporate Social Responsibility Commitment to contribute to the societal goals of the OECS member states and support OECS communities in shaping their shared prosperity. Overall, we want to thank the staff, not just at the Impolite, but of all the schools on Ireland for putting together the initiatives to get students back in school come September and we hope that our gift of masks to the teachers will assist in preparing the Dane-Pollet School to be ready come September and to be focused on teaching our youth rather than worrying about the health as much. Principal of the Dane-Pollet-Louise Primary School, Mrs. Ethanin Leos, thank to the OECS Commission for the donation. The face shields will definitely augur well for us as a school and as a teaching staff. The teachers will have an additional layer of protection as they go about continuing the journey that we have set up from the beginning in 2003 of making sure our students achieve the best, focusing on education and not on all the other things that can be distractions. Mr. Louiseau, the face shields do more than just protect us. It also gives us this kind of assurity and assurance that everything is fine not just with Dane-Pollet, but with education in St. Lucia. Principal of the Common Rainy Memorial School, Sianna Nolly George says a gesture from the OECS Commission reinforces the school's safety protocols for the new academic year. Life as we know it will never be the same. The COVID-19 pandemic prevention through social distancing and health and safety protocols has introduced the new normal into our education system. As an educational institution, we have a collective responsibility to ensure that the school environment is safe and that mandated protocols for the education system are in place to receive our staff and students when they return next month. The use of face covering such as a face shield is an important element in ensuring the safety of staff, students and other key stakeholders on the ground. And we trust that this donation will make the transition a little better for all. The relationship between the OECS Commission and the Common Rainy Memorial School is slowly growing and with this small donation and future opportunities, we aim for a long, fruitful relationship. The OECS Commission presented 42 face shields to the principal and staff of the Camille Henry Memorial School. The cooperation initiative between the Camille Henry Memorial School and the OECS Commission facilitated staff of the OECS in resolving the abrupt interruption to classroom learning. We are here again to express our appreciation to you principal and staff for your kind generosity and that of the teachers who assisted in the process in allowing nine children of staff of the OECS Commission to be registered on the online learning platform of the Camille Henry Memorial School during May to June 2020. The students were registered across grades one to grade six and the feedback from the parents we received worked very positive. I must mention that we had two students from the Commonwealth of Dominica who also participated and benefited from this cooperative initiative with your school. We felt it prudent though that given your quick response and your willingness to partner with the OECS Commission that we contribute to the inventory of your personal protective equipment that your school must now acquire to meet the new safety and health protocols. Principal of the Camille Henry Memorial School, Beverly Diodone, thanked the OECS Commission for the presentation. This contribution will greatly assist in offsetting the huge financial burden on the school in preparation for the reopening while ensuring all safety protocols are in place. We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the Commission and we look forward to continuous collaboration between the OECS Commission and the Camille Henry Memorial School. The OECS Commission has partnered with other schools in St. Lucia and the Commonwealth of Dominica through the annual social outreach and educational activities. From the Government Information Service, Lisa Joseph reporting. The annual Grosile top achievers award ceremony has put a smile on the faces of many students, parents and teachers. Roger Byron Lawrence reports. Top achievers from the constituency of Grosile have been awarded for their successes. The ninth annual Grosile top achievers ceremony recognised the outstanding academic performances of students from the constituency in the common-entrance examinations. Paliamentary representative for Grosile, the Honourable Leonard Montout, congratulated the top-achieving students on a job well done and spoke of the importance of recognising the youth and their achievements. This annual ceremony is very significant to me because I am one who believes in accentuating the positives about our youth, our young people and when they do good, when they perform well, I think they have to be celebrated, they have to be given due recognition and the praise that they deserve. I think that in itself serves as a further motivation and encouragement to them as well as an inspiration and to others to at least pursue excellence and to aim to do better in the future. I am hoping that when we present them, we present them as models to their pairs. The pairs can emulate and so I think it's all around a positive because we too often only speak of the negative things about our young people but there's a lot to celebrate among our youth and I think whenever we get the opportunity, we profit that opportunity and this is one occasion when we take pleasure in doing so annually. This year's top achievers from Grozile are as follows the Common Entrance Exams, Christian George, Thierry Morrill, Brianne Seely and Kyle Chaus also in receipt of special awards for second place are Eva George, Menelik Nurse, Brielle Anson and Zohan Orillier. The top achievers were rewarded with laptops and plaques for their exemplary performances. Top Achiever Thierry Morrill expressed gratitude to the parliamentary representative on behalf of the achievers. Despite the current economic climate due to COVID-19, the achievements of the youth definitely did not go unnoticed. We are there for most overjoyed at the recognition. Our gifts will definitely be used to assist us in our educational journey. I would like to express my gratitude towards the many persons who tirelessly to ensure that this event was successfully executed. We the recipients are grateful for the acknowledgement of our efforts as this year's top Common Entrance achievers of our respective schools. Sidney J. Harris says and I quote, The windows are open. The opportunities await. End of quote. It's up to us now to use our new devices and the skills, values and knowledge acquired thus far to take us to a higher level. The Grozile constituency top achievers awards took place on Tuesday, August 18th at the Grozile Human Resource Centre. From the Government Information Service, I am Rog Varo-Lorens reporting. A film series has begun airing this month to educate the public on climate change and biodiversity. The Department of Sustainable Development embarked on this production to convey how the National Environmental Information System can be harnessed for developing scenarios in St. Lucia's future and planning for such eventualities. Jesse Leos has a report. A film series has been launched to highlight the value of St. Lucia's one-of-a-kind environmental information system. Referred to as the NEIS, this web-based platform provides reports on the state of the island's environment and updates on the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements that the country is signed on to. The film series, titled St. Lucia into the Future, will be aired over three seasons, each themed climate change, land degradation and biodiversity. The films demonstrate the use of the NEIS for translation of data into useful and actionable information and presents a baseline for environmental scenarios in St. Lucia which can be revisited, revised and used to inform strategic planning. We just want to bring home the message of how climate change can impact a small island developing state like St. Lucia. And you know what's the public role in this right now. So this is why the film comes in. So we target everyone at all levels to let them see the value of this national environmental information system, how it will allow us to envision these scenarios that we have generated and see what improvements we can make to make St. Lucia better in terms of environmental management. That was Daniel Gordon, project manager at the Department of Sustainable Development. The film series is an undertaking of the department's increased St. Lucia's capacity to monitor multilateral environmental agreements, MEA, implementation and sustainable development project. The project's main deliverable is NEIS. Being the first of its kind in the region, makes St. Lucia a trailblazer for its online environmental information platform. So access the reports on there. You can go to www.neis.govt.lc. So this is where the public can access the reports generated from the data. Now you can access both reports and the data so you can create your own reports based on the data there. But that data comes from government and non-governmental organizations who have agreed through an MOU to contribute periodically to this national environmental information system. So you have agencies like Central Statistics Office, Department of Planning, Ministry of Health and Wellness. You also have National Trust. Met Office? Yes, Met Office there as well. So you have multiple agencies who have agreed through this MOU to commit to uploading data in a very regular manner. Project Manager Daniel Gordon encourages the public to visit the NEIS site at neis.govt.lc and follow the film series airing weekly. For the Government Information Service, I am Jesse Leance reporting. This is NTN Nightly. Up next, Primers Hutchinson with the NTN Novella Quaiol. Welcome back. We now join Primers Hutchinson for the NTN Novella Quaiol. My name is Kadef Salah. I am 18 in 2020. My name is Kadef Salah. I am a woman from Delaney, Delage, and I am from the US. I am quarantine. I have been living here for seven years. I am now in a stable position in the hospital in Victoria. I am Kadef Salah, I am a resident of the MOU who has been confirmed in this hospital for 26 years, 28 years. I would like to advise the public that even though the government is trying to manage the Ecosy Code of Investigation to ensure that everyone who is in contact with the individual must learn about their responsibilities personally to protect them as well as their families. I would like to say that I would like to say that to participate in social activities in the public, I would also like to give a notification that all the protocols will continue in the same fashion as before to serve the masses in the public, to continue to waste six feet of distance from the people. I would like to say that I would like to say that I would like to say that I would like to say that I would like to say that I would like to give a notification to all the people who are in contact with the public the Ecosy Code of Investigation in the public and how they would like to speak to the public to support them and to encourage them to keep up with them with their realized work. And we would like to say that I would like to thank for the 3rd of September, 2020. Residuality explained that the 8th initiative was necessary to extend its operations to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State's work collaborated very closely with the Secretary of State to ensure that there is a place where everyone who is involved can continue to follow and protect themselves. The Minister of Tourism, Hon. Abdominik Fede, noted that it was necessary to extend its time for the Secretary of State to continue to operate and to find a place to explore the way to add a lot of attractions and restaurants to help increase the situation of the foreign agent to encourage the country's economy to be stronger. The Minister of Tourism, Hon. Abdominik Fede, noted that it was necessary to extend its time for the Secretary of State to continue to operate and to find a place to explore the way to add a lot of attractions and restaurants to help increase the situation of the foreign agent to continue to operate and to find a place to explore the way to change the situation of the coronavirus. The Minister of Tourism, Hon. Abdominik Fede, noted that it was necessary to extend its time for the Secretary of State to continue to operate and to find a place to explore the way to change the situation of the coronavirus. The Minister of Tourism, Hon. Abdominik Fede, noted that it was necessary to extend its time for the Secretary of State to continue to operate and to find a place to explore the way to expand its time for the Secretary of State to expand its time for the Secretary of State to continue to operate and to find a place to explore the way to change the situation of the coronavirus. The Minister of Tourism, Hon. Abdominik Fede, noted that it was necessary to extend its time for the Secretary of State to continue to operate and to find a place to explore the way to change the situation of the coronavirus. The Minister of Tourism, Hon. Abdominik Fede, noted that it was necessary to extend its time for the Secretary of State to make the Minister of Tourism ¡Favio! Since there is a reduction in the number of children to assist the school, it is necessary for the school to find a way to help them continue to operate. So if we have to do 5, 20, 15, so it's not going to be a difficult way to manage, because we don't have to bring money or coffee before. And it's not going to be a difficult way to manage. So we have to do this to make money, to bring money, to buy support for all these people. It's not going to be a difficult way to manage. Thank you very much for your invitation. If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section below. That's one.