HTS News 4orce St. Lucia's #1 News Team
The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening digital health collaboration in the region through its participation in the ONE Caribbean Connect Regional Policy Dialogue, recently hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group in Trinidad and Tobago.
CARPHA was represented by Dr. Lisa Indar, Executive Director of CARPHA and Project Director of CARPHA’s Pandemic Fund Project, Mr Gabriel Garcia, Departmental Head of CARPHA’s IT Department, Dr. Brian Armour, Technical Advisor, CARPHA Pandemic Fund Project and Mr. Brendon Bhagwandeen, Biostatistician, CARPHA Pandemic Fund Project.
The two-day high-level dialogue brought together digital health experts from IDB, CARICOM, CARPHA and PAHO and seven Caribbean countries (The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago) to advance a shared plan to strengthen and secure interoperable health information exchange, with the goal of beginning cross-border health data exchange by 2028 within the Region.
The ONE Caribbean Connect dialogue was hosted by the IDB Group under its ONE Caribbean regional approach and builds on the momentum of the Pan-American Highway for Digital Health (PH4H), a joint initiative of the IDB and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). CARICOM, CARPHA and PAHO provided technical inputs that supported the development of the shared commitment. IDB representatives also moderated and facilitated key sessions and roadmap exercises, while PAHO contributed technical input through its digital health and health surveillance expertise; CARICOM contributed a regional digital transformation perspective through its ICT for Development leadership, and CARPHA demonstrated its use of digital surveillance for its novel real time integrated early warning and response surveillance response systems (REIWSS) being executed through CARPHA’s Pandemic Fund Grant, with IDB as an implementing entity.
A key outcome of the meeting was the ONE Caribbean Digital Health Roadmap Commitment, which outlines priority actions in governance, legal and policy frameworks, and interoperability to enable secure health data exchange across participating countries. Leaders from CARICOM, CARPHA, and PAHO provided technical inputs throughout the dialogue in support of this shared commitment.
