Group photo of attendees.
PHILIPSBURG--Dr. Daphne Illis, a representative from the Collective Prevention Services (CPS), the executing agency of the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor VSA, recently attended the Caribbean Public Health Agency CARPHA Regional Health Security (RHS) Planning Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago.
On Thursday, the Ministry of VSA issued a press release to make the announcement. The two-day meeting focused on the transboundary spread of infectious diseases as a threat to regional and global health security. The devastating impact of COVID-19 and other public health concerns highlight the need for regional and global health security to protect and improve health.
RHS encompasses the capacities required for the Caribbean to prepare for and respond to public health threats, risks, priority issues, and concerns that transcend national boundaries and potentially impact economic stability, trade, tourism, and access to goods and services in the region.
The meeting prioritised Member States’ current needs, increased awareness of CARPHA’s integrated surveillance and capacity building work, and strengthened partnerships. These elements will assist in developing a sustainable RHS Pathway in short order.
Small, under-resourced populations with varying surveillance, laboratory, and human resource capacities characterise the Caribbean region, RHS offers a coordinated approach which is especially crucial in the region. The region is highly interconnected with porous borders, heavily reliant on tourism, and susceptible to climate change and disasters, according to the release.
The RHS Planning Meeting was attended by Chief Medical Officers, a Permanent Secretary, and other health representatives from 21 CARPHA Member States, 11 regional and international agencies, and three international developmental partners (IDPs). The meeting took place from August 8 to 9 at the Hilton Trinidad Hotel and Conference Centre.
These elements will assist in developing the sustainable RHS Pathway in short order. This 2023 meeting followed the RHS meeting held in July 2022 in which CARPHA developed an RHS framework and conducted consultations with 84 stakeholders.
Improving regional health security, prevention, preparedness, and response to public health emergencies need to be improved not only at the national levels but also at the regional level. Functional regional capacities are greater than the sum of the capacities of individual countries for improving RHS in the Caribbean.
The combination of factors significantly increases the region’s exposure and vulnerability to disease spread, enabling rapid spread of highly transmissible communicable diseases. The tropical climate and abundance of competent vectors make the region particularly vulnerable to vector-borne disease outbreaks.
