Health Surveillance in Place for Visitors to Belize

Health officials have increased surveillance at Belize’s entry points, like the international airport, cruise ports, and border crossings, to control the measles outbreak before it gets worse. So, even if you’re just leaving for a day or two, especially this Easter, be ready to answer a few questions when you return. Doctor Musa explained the process for people entering the country.

 

Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Director, Public Health & Wellness

“The process in Belize and in the Ministry of Health and Wellness is that we do have public health inspectors trained in surveillance at our borders and at the cruise ships. So, the public health inspectors have numerous roles when they’re at these border points. And one of the roles is in surveillance. And we have now, in fact – the regions are meeting today, and some met yesterday to enhance the surveillance. So, the enhancement basically means that we’re actively looking for cases, reaching out to people who have been sick because of course, a part of the public health inspectors’ duty at the border points, especially for the airport, is to look at the report that the captain says, “just prior to landing” identifying whether somebody is ill on flight, et cetera. And then we take action depending on that. But as Dr. Beer mentioned, we would also have posters. The public health inspectors do ask about fever. We try to identify early if there are any sick families in the group and we then give advice and isolate as needed. So, this will be enhanced. We will more than likely, depending on the regions – because not all regions, the response will be the same. The borders, of course, are a little bit – the land borders might be different than the cruise ships and the airports. So, we will adjust for each border and we will enhance the surveillance at those places.”