Advancing public health while reducing the Caribbean’s vulnerability to the introduction and spread of communicable and non-communicable diseases and other health emergencies continues to be the focus of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA).
To achieve this mandate, both CARPHA and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) have committed to better coordination and collaboration to maximise efficiencies, leading to effective technical cooperation and the avoidance of duplication in the Caribbean region. In furtherance of this, both agencies participated in concerted exchanges following the 16th Meeting of CARPHA’s Expanded Technical Advisory Committee in August 2024. Subsequently, two documents were produced detailing the areas of common focus at strategic and operational levels. This culminated in a joint CARPHA-PAHO planning meeting hosted on March 17, 2025, at CARPHA Headquarters in Trinidad and Tobago.
During her opening remarks at the CARPHA Headquarters, Dr. Lisa Indar, Executive Director of CARPHA, welcomed the PAHO delegates and reiterated the long-standing relationship between both agencies. “PAHO and CARPHA boast a long-standing, well-established partnership. Both are key agencies with responsibility for public health in the Caribbean region. This joint consultation of the agencies’ 2025 activities will result in better alignment, collaborative and well-coordinated delivery of technical cooperation to advance health and serve the Region.”
Speaking on behalf of PAHO/WHO Caribbean, Dr. Juan Manuel Sotelo shared, “There is a need for real-time sharing on common areas of work to streamline efforts towards the more efficient use of resources by reducing duplication of activities to fight communicable and non-communicable diseases and their causes, while strengthening health systems for improved responses to emergencies and disasters. It is therefore crucial that both PAHO and CARPHA continue to coordinate and align their work in the Caribbean region to more efficiently and effectively address the critical public health problems facing our Caribbean Member States.”
PAHO’s visit encompassed detailed discussions at both strategic and operational levels with technical leads spanning communicable and non-communicable diseases, surveillance, pandemic fund, emergency response, and medicines regulation from both agencies. There was further agreement from both agencies to work more collaboratively (including joint missions where applicable) on the cross-cutting areas of: communicable disease surveillance; emergency response; strengthening the One Health approach in national food control systems and national foodborne disease surveillance systems; strengthening regional antimicrobial resistance surveillance and laboratory capacity in the Region; reducing the burden and impact of non-communicable diseases and mental health and their risk factors; improving access to vaccines, medicines, and health technologies; and collaborating with technical counterparts of other Caribbean Pandemic Fund grants, among other critical sectors. These areas are instrumental in strengthening public health resilience and ensuring a coordinated response to regional health challenges.
Photo Caption: (L-R) Dr. Mark Sami, Director – Corporate Services, CARPHA; Dr. Lisa Indar, Executive Director, CARPHA; Dr. Juan Manuel Sotelo, Subregional Program Director, Caribbean, PAHO/WHO; Dr. Prabhjot Singh, Advisor – Health Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control, PAHO/WHO; and Dr. Horace Cox, Acting Director – Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control Division, CARPHA, after the joint CARPHA-PAHO planning meeting hosted on March 17, 2025, at the CARPHA Headquarters, Trinidad and Tobago.
