The Pan Amer­i­can Health Or­gan­i­sa­tion and the World Health Or­gan­i­sa­tion have named Trinidad and To­ba­go’s Dr Ra­jeev Na­gas­sar as the first re­cip­i­ent of the Caribbean An­timi­cro­bial Re­sis­tance Lead­er­ship Award. The award was cre­at­ed in mem­o­ry of Ja­maican vet­eri­nar­i­an and pub­lic health ad­vo­cate Dr Suzan McLen­non-Miguel.

The an­nounce­ment was made dur­ing an on­line cer­e­mo­ny that brought to­geth­er health lead­ers from across the Caribbean and be­yond. The award recog­nis­es lead­er­ship in an­timi­cro­bial re­sis­tance work and high­lights ef­forts linked to hu­man health, an­i­mal health, agri­cul­ture and re­lat­ed sec­tors.

Chief of the AMR Spe­cial Pro­gram at PA­HO/WHO Dr Pi­lar Ra­mon-Par­do said the range of nom­i­na­tions showed the span of AMR work in the Caribbean. She said the sub­mis­sions demon­strat­ed ad­vo­ca­cy, im­pact based on ev­i­dence and joint ac­tion across sec­tors. She stat­ed that these val­ues align with the work and lega­cy of Dr McLen­non-Miguel.