The Minister of Health of Nicaragua, Ms. Sonia Castro, and the IAEA’s Director General, Mr. Yukiya Amano, have attended the opening ceremony of a workshop in Managua to assess occupational radiation protection in the region, and to strengthen radiation safety programmes.
The workshop, held in Managua, Nicaragua from 1 to 5 February, brought together 44 four professionals, representing 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Participants focused on assessing the situation in the region regarding occupational radiation protection and on establishing regional and national action plans to strengthen their radiation safety programmes.
The meeting took place with the framework of an ongoing, regional IAEA technical cooperation project entitled ‘Strengthening National Infrastructure for End-Users to comply with Regulations and Radiological Protection Requirements’. This project, which was initiated in 2014, aims to strengthen radiation protection programmes in medicine and industry for both workers and patients. The project is also intended to support the development of appropriately educated and well-trained staff to enhance national capacities in radiation protection. The project has also resulted in the formation of an informal network that has developed during this and preceding meetings, through which the participating Member States have been able to receive and in turn provide support to each other.
