They dubbed it "Let's Talk Menopause" and here are some highlights of the discussion.

H.E Rossana Briceno, Special Envoy for Dev. of Families & Children
"This all started when I met the GG at a ministry of education event entitled lead like a girl. So today we gathered for an important reason to create a safe space, a safe open and informative space for discussion on a topic that touches the lives of women everywhere, yet it is often shorted in silence, confusion and sometimes even stigma and considered taboo. Menopause is a natural stage of life yet too often it is misunderstood and under discussed."

Dr Veronica Rosado, Gynecologist
"Perimenopause is the stage right before menopause, it's right before menopause so you will start having all the symptoms in perimenopause and menopause is actually when you have 12 months, one year complete of no periods. Once you don't see your period for 12 months, if you see it for 9 months and it comes again you are still not in menopause. That is one of the definitions."

Melissa Diaz Musa, Director, MOHW
"Going back to the study and going back to the access hat our women have in our population to ensure that when you get to this stage you are as healthy as possible we do have over 50 almost 60 health facilities across the country at different levels and the first step would be going into one of these facilities seeing a nurse and then seeing a medical officer. In terms of the symptoms that you have the consultation will then involve looking at the symptoms and a lot of the menopause treatment is geared towards essentially alleviating symptoms."

Jihane Habet Santlal, Nutritionist
"You need to have nutrients, you need to have energy and as a woman especially when you are going through menopause you are fatigued so you need energy. You need to have those calories for energy."

H.E Dame Royal Tzalam, Governor General of Belize
"And one of the sides that really frightened me into becoming more interested in strength training was that the older you are when you fall, your chances of survival beyond 2 years really minimises. And I always jokingly say I want to live till I'm in my 80s, 90s if I can but I want to have a quality of life. I don't want to be wheelchair bound and any of those things so my commitment, my personal commitment to myself is that I need to be informed about menopause, I need to eat well I need to exercise, doing the right kinds of exercise so it's not just cardio anymore it's strengthen training and most importantly talk to my family because my family will tell you I have good days, I have bad days to the point where my son will say now mommy you slept good last night? No hot flashes? He knows about hot flashes. Are you okay? And it's amazing that even somebody asking you if you are okay sets the tone for the rest of the day because it means you are not alone. To the point where I now have become a menopause bore, I will talk to people openly about it among my sisters even within my family there are 7 of us, 7 females and we experience the spectrum."

The event was facilitated by the MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND WELLNESS.