The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) took a milestone step in its mission to strengthen health security and coordination in the region with the successful hosting of the Joint Regional Health Security (RHS) and Regional Coordinating Mechanism for Health Security (RCM-HS) Workshop, held from July 28–29, 2025 at the Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown, Guyana.
The workshop theme, “Transitioning from a Regional Pathway to Action”, reflects the move from high-level planning to concrete implementation of the Caribbean’s Regional Health Security (RHS) Pathway – a strategic plan developed by CARPHA in collaboration with its Member States (MS), agencies and partners, to strengthen surveillance, response systems, and public health workforce capacity across the region.
Supported by CARPHA’s Pandemic Fund Project, this regional workshop brought together 140 participants from twenty four (24) Member States and twelve (12) international and regional agencies and partners, including the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), The Pandemic Fund, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), _Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency_(CDEMA), CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), World Bank, and CARPHA. Key objectives included updating on the RHS Pathway, public health threats and priorities and demonstrating CARPHA’s Caribbean-tailored tools for improving surveillance and early warning surveillance systems (EWS), laboratory systems, workforce capacities and regional coordination for advancing pandemic preparedness and response (PPR) and RHS across the Caribbean.
CARPHA, as the sole regional public health agency, mandated by CARICOM Heads of Government to protect and promote health and respond to public health emergencies in 26 Caribbean Member States, serves as the Executing Agency for the Pandemic Fund Project and Chair of the RCM-HS, the established mechanism for coordinating the regional response to public health threats.
Under this mandate, CARPHA continues to lead the development of regional public health goods (RPGs) and cross-sectoral coordination efforts that protect health, support economic stability, and build resilience in the region’s Small Island Developing States SIDS).
In this regard, the workshop featured updates on CARPHA’s expanded syndromic surveillance systems in DHIS-2, confidential tourism/travellers health and mass gatherings surveillance systems, timeliness metrics, climate early warning system, integrated/one health foodborne/zoonoses diseases and antimicrobial resistance surveillance, expansion of laboratories and workforce capacities and faster sample transport and testing. Day 2 focused on enhancing inter-agency coordination and harmonisation.
In her remarks, Dr. Lisa Indar, Executive Director of CARPHA, noted: “This workshop represents more than a meeting of minds. It is about moving the Caribbean’s vision of health security into action. Through shared tools, strengthened partnerships, and a unified regional approach, we are building a healthier, safer future – one that is capable of detecting threats early, responding swiftly, and recovering stronger.”
Dr. Priya Basu, Executive Head of the Pandemic Fund Secretariat, commended CARPHA’s leadership in leading the efficient operationalising of their Pandemic Fund project. “CARPHA’s regional project began delivering results, distributing lab equipment for rapid testing, and rolling out an innovative mass gathering system that was deployed during last year’s Cricket World Cup.”
Delivering the keynote address, The Honourable Dr. Frank Anthony, Minister of Health, Guyana, stated: “The Caribbean region, through CARPHA, has made remarkable strides in building a regionally unified health security architecture. Small states, porous borders, and climate vulnerabilities mean we cannot afford to work in silos. Thanks to the leadership of CARPHA and the endorsement of CARICOM Heads of Government, we are building the mechanism to act swiftly and decisively. CARPHA’s approach—tiered, One Health-based, and digitally integrated—is tailored to Caribbean realities and sets an example of innovation for other small island regions. From early warning systems for mass gatherings and climate-sensitive diseases to digital disease surveillance, biosafety measures, and infodemic monitoring, CARPHA is implementing cutting-edge, Caribbean-specific solutions.”
Ms. Alison Drayton, Assistant Secretary-General, Human and Social Development at the CARICOM Secretariat, praised the workshop’s focus and CARPHA’s leadership and contributions: “We are moving from reactive response to strategic readiness — a vision we must all commit to making real. Let us assess our progress under the Regional Health Security Pathway, identify what remains to be done, and strengthen integration by embedding CARPHA’s public health tools within national health and development plans.”
Dr. Kavita Singh, Sector Lead Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank, reaffirmed the IDB’s support. Speaking of the need for the continued need to develop Caribbean-tailored measures for advancement of RHS, she stressed: “Now it is equally imperative that this medium be created to allow for exchanges among the respective Member States as we evaluate our preparedness to address public health threats that may materialize to become outbreaks, epidemics or pandemics, as well as to advance agencies and partner coordination and collaborations for the same.”
Key outcomes from the workshop included national action plans that incorporated CARPHA’s tools and mechanisms for RHS, a draft matrix of the Pandemic Fund Grants activities across the Caribbean, stakeholder feedback on CARPHA’s innovations for RHS and strengthened partnerships and mechanisms for enhanced coordination and collaboration among agencies and partners for seamless execution of information sharing, technical support and response, including the Caribbean Pandemic Fund grants, in Member States for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response PPR and advancing Regional and Global Health Security.
