PAHO Director and CARICOM Secretary-General sign 2025-2029 Joint Subregional cooperation strategy to advance health and equity in the Caribbean – PAHO/WHO
Georgetown, Guyana, July 22, 2025 (PAHO)-The Joint Sub-Grounding Cooperation Strategy that will provide a coordinated framework for technical cooperation to address common public health challenges in the Caribbean was signed today by the director of the Pan American Health Organization, Dr. Jarbas Barbosa and Dr. Carla N. Barnett, General Secretary of the Community of Caribbean (Caricom).
The Strategy Will Cover The 15 Caricom Member State: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and The Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, As Well as SIX SIX SIX SIX ASSOCIATE MEMBERS: Anguilla, Bermuda, The British Virgin Islands, Curacao, the Cayman Islands and the Turkish Islands and Caicos.
«This firm marks a milestone in a long -standing association rooted in trust, mutual respect and a shared vision for the health and well -being of the Caribbean peoples,» said Dr. Barbosa during the firm ceremony, which took place during the official visit of the director of the PAHO to Guyana this week.
«The Caribbean faces unique and interconnected public health challenges, from the growing burden of non -communicable diseases, to the continuous threat of climate change, to the need for digital transformation and stronger and more resistant health systems,» added the director. «These challenges do not stop at the borders, nor our solutions.»
Thanking Dr. Barbosa for his ongoing collaboration, Dr. Carla N. Barnett, General Secretary of Caricom, stressed that this agreement «is a historical moment in our association with Paho, which has been fundamental to focus our health policies and our public health provision, and ensure that we can take care of the health of the people of the community.»
For Dr. Frank Anthony, Guyana Minister of Health, «this strategy states that health is not just a service, it is a right. In the Caribbean, that right should not be issued where you live, due to their income or age.»
The cooperation strategy describes five strategic priorities for the technical cooperation of the organization in the subregion:
- Improve the resilience of health systems based on primary health care
This depends on several key areas: reinforcing evidence -based decision making, promoting solid workforce and training for a resistant health force, implementing a comprehensive digital transformation policy and guaranteeing generalized access to quality, affordable medications, vaccines and health technologies.
- Adaptation of climate adaptation, mitigation, disaster preparation and response to improve environmental sustainability and health safety.
This will focus on the preparation of climatic emergencies, as well as the implementation of climate adaptation strategies to improve the resilience of the health sector, and the integration of environmental health considerations in regional public health policies and programs.
- Strengthen multisectoral action towards surveillance, prevention and control of ENT, violence, injuries, mental health conditions and their risk factors
Within this area, the countries of Paho and the Caribbean will collaborate in the development of policies to mitigate the risk factors of noncommunicable diseases (NCD). They will also accelerate the implementation of NCD management initiatives, including PAHO’s best attention for NCDs and cervical cancer elimination strategies. A key approach will also be to accelerate the transition to the care of mental health based on the community.
- Advancement of the prevention, control and elimination of priority communicable diseases through subregional coordination with the single health approach
This strategic priority will focus on accelerating the elimination of communicable diseases through strengthening policies to promote vaccination as a public good. It will also seek to improve surveillance and early war systems to allow countries to respond quickly to outbreaks of communicable diseases.
- Improvement of technical cooperation through associations, resource mobilization and defense.
This includes the development of a subregional framework in association with Caricom to improve the mobilization of resources, as well as the commitment to decision makers to address priority health problems.
«By signing this strategy today, we also renew our commitment to work together, not only as institutions, but as allies and as a community linked to a common purpose,» concluded Dr. Barbosa.
PAHO Director – Official Visit to Guyana
During his official visit to Guyana, which took place from July 21 to 23, the director of the PAHO also met with the Prime Minister of Guyana, Mark Phillips, to discuss the vital improvements that are made to the health system.
The upper part of the agenda was the impact of the migration of health workers and the importance of using new technologies, such as Paho hybrid nursing programs to expand nurses training, particularly for Caribbean countries that face similar problems with training and retention.
