Basseterre: St. Kitts, Thursday, October 12, 2022: Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr. Hazel Laws was the specially invited guest presenter at a meeting of school principals and Education officials earlier today in an effort to raise awareness about the highly contagious hand, foot and mouth disease currently which is known to be easily spread among children.
The CMO was invited as a means of providing critical information that would help curb the spread of the virus which presented itself locally over the past few weeks, especially as schools are high risk areas as far as the spread of such diseases.
Commenting on the fact that children are most susceptible to this virus Dr. Laws stated
“Good hygiene is the best protection against hand, foot and mouth disease. So each school will need to reevaluate your prevention and control measures and make a determination as to what you need to improve on such that your school will be doing its part towards reducing the spread of this highly infectious disease.”
The Chief Medical Officer explained that prevention and control measures implemented at the school level would be most effective in stopping the spread.
Prevention methods highlighted by Dr Laws included frequent clearing of high touch areas, no sharing of toys, washing hands thoroughly and frequently throughout the day, avoiding sharing cups and eating utensils, teaching children about cough etiquette as well as disposal of tissues.
Chief Education Officer Mr. Francil Morris said the awareness exercise was timely and critical as the Ministry continues to seek to keep school spaces healthy and safe.
Also present at this meeting were new Permanent Secretary in this Ministry of Education Mrs. Lisa Romayne Pistana and Deputy Chief Education Officer, Mr. Roger Woodley.
