CASTRIES, St Lucia (CMC) – The Director General of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Dr Didacus Jules, says the presence and investment of the United States-based World Pediatrics in regional hubs as well as its collaboration with ministries of health and clinical teams, have transformed lives and strengthened systems in the sub-region.

“The OECS, guided by its mandate under the Revised Treaty of Basseterre, remains firmly committed to regional cooperation as a pathway to improved quality of life for our people,” Jules said at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing a framework for regional coordination and alignment to strengthen clinical delivery, including pediatric surgical missions, specialised clinics and improved referral pathways.

He said that in the health sector, this means pooling expertise, harmonising approaches, and addressing shared challenges together, particularly in areas where no single small state can act effectively on its own.

“Child health, and especially access to specialised pediatric services, is one such area,” Jules added.

The St Lucia-based OECS Commission said that the MoU with World  Pediatrics is in keeping with the efforts of  the sub-region to advance equity and inclusion by reducing disparities in health, education and social outcomes.

The MoU places strong emphasis on capacity building, education and training to support sustainable improvements within health systems. It recognises the critical role of research, data and monitoring in guiding evidence-based policies and investment decisions.

The agreement also advances resource mobilisation as well as strategic partnerships and underscores the role of advocacy, communication and awareness. The OECS Commission said that the partnership pivotally recognises that improving child health is not only a clinical task but a societal one.

World Pediatrics chief executive officer, Vafa Akhavan, endorsed the partnership as a significant step forward for child health in the region and emphasised World Pediatrics’ alignment with the OECS.

“That’s the beauty of being like-minded, that’s the beauty of a common purpose. It is that you will understand what it takes, and therefore the language becomes the same, and the mindset becomes the same, and the framework becomes the same, and that’s the guidance that we are so excited about in this partnership.

“The guidance of the OECS in translating this MoU into specific lines of action that we can take and make sure we are monitoring them; make sure we are qualifying them, make sure that we are impacting the lives of children.

“We believe at World Pediatrics when you impact the lives of the children you are impacting the lives of the family, and therefore by aggregate, the community. They become the future decision makers of our nations, of our regions, of the world, and so children are the strategic imperative of every generation because they grow up to be the future decision makers,” Akhavan said.

Head of the Development Cooperation and Resource Mobilisation Unit at the OECS Commission, Nadege Jn Baptiste, highlighted the role of strategic partnerships in mobilising resources and sustaining impact.

Baptiste said that the agreement “builds on productive engagement between our institutions, including the visit of the Chief Executive Officer of World Pediatrics to the OECS headquarters in November 2025, which helped pave the way for this partnership”.