– Dr. RamsammyActs of violence have been placed prominently on the public health agenda and Guyana, according to Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, has been playing a leading role in this regard.The minister alluded to the fact that this country has placed both partner violence and sexual offences on the public health agenda. In fact,NFL Jerseys China, the World Health Organisation in its efforts to raise global awareness about such violence,Cheap NFL Jerseys, in 2003 declared domestic violence as one of the world’s leading public health threats, rivaling tuberculosis and malaria as the leading cause of death and disability.But even while local efforts are being made to implement legislation to help arrest violence as it relates to domestic abuse and sexual offences, Minister Ramsammy has asserted that the underlying responsibility does not lie with any single sector, but rather all sectors must be integrally involved.Minister of Health Dr. Leslie RamsammyThe Minister’s remarks come at time when Domestic Violence Awareness is being observed on a global scale. He pointed to fact that the Ministries of Human Services and Education, the security services and the health sector, must all collaborate to provide a combination of services including medical care, psychosocial support and interaction with legal authorities.However, he asserted that in many instances in terms of prosecution, among other associated features, there are obvious gaps in terms of the Ministry of Health and hospitals’ responses.“While we have attempted to do certain things,Taylor Gabriel Falcons Jersey, we have been weak in terms of those aspects of the laws that are the responsibility of the health sector,” he emphasised.The minister underscored that very often legal authorities complain that the Ministry of Health and the health sector’s collaboration with legal authorities create major difficulties for the legal authorities and “I don’t need to develop that any further.? I think people understand that filling out the forms etc. are critical components of the things that we need to do”.And while of great importance is the need to provide psychosocial support, this area, according to the Minister,Houston Cougars Jerseys, represents a major deficit in the work that is being done by the health sector.“For sure where there are injuries the health system provides the medical interventions that are necessary, and even when we provide the medical intervention, the support system is lacking and that system also leaves the deficiency in data gathering.”Dr. Ramsammy explained that most of the violence that is carried out between intimate partners and also those that are characterized as sexual offences are often not reported by the victims,Wholesale Baseball Jerseys, and there is in fact little effort on the part of health sector personnel to elicit that information, even when there is grave suspicion of such a case.He opined, too, that usually the health sector personnel take the position that “if such information is not volunteered then it is not their business…quite often we see that!”In addition to sexual offences and domestic violence cases that are addressed within the health setting, another area which has been surfacing, and that requires much attention, is that of intoxication and alcohol use, according to the Minister.He alluded to that fact “we have also been doing a poor job at identifying alcohol or substance abuse-related acts of violence committed by anyone, particularly by intimate partners or family members.? These are some of the deficits that exist,” he noted.Over recent years, several attempts have been made to estimate the extent of the violence-related problems in studies done at the Accident and Emergency Unit, and according to Minister Ramsammy, efforts have also been made to do projections in terms of those injuries as it relates to intimate partners.? Another study, he said, is aimed at completing the analysis of data to link violence with alcohol.For this reason, the public health sector has been collaborating with overseas experts from Vanderbilt University, which according to the Minister “comes at a very opportune time.” He pointed out that efforts are being made to develop guidelines to assist local health personnel to provide the kind of support that is necessary.