The government and the National Association of Hotels and Restaurants, with the cooperation of the World Health Organization and the Panamerican Health Organization have created a new Health and Tourism Council (Consatur) to watch over and improve health conditions in tourist areas. The Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Public Health, the Santo Domingo Water Corporation (CAASD), the National Potable Water and Sewage Institute (INAPA), the World Health Organization and the Panamerican Health Organization and the National Association of Hotels and Restaurants make up the new organization. Consatur will be presided by Minister of Public Health Altagracia Guzmán Marcelino. It will implement the National Health & Tourism Plan and create preventive health programs in tourist areas. Consatur will supervise, monitor and evaluate health prevention programs carried out by hotels, restaurants, entertainment centers and other companies catering to tourists. The organization will also seek to promote adequate handling of food and prevent sicknesses, especially sexually transmittable diseases such as AIDS. Present for the announcement of the new Council, Minister of Tourism Félix Jiménez said that the government will invest over RD$1,000 before the end of this government to expand or build aqueducts and sewage treatment plants in Cabarete, Sosua, Puerto Plata, Samaná, Bayahibe, Guayacanes, Boca Chica, Jarabacoa and Barahona.
