Bridgetown, Barbados. August 29, 2025. The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) has successfully convened two high-level regional workshops in Barbados this week, bringing together public health experts and national representatives to strengthen the Caribbean’s capacity to predict, detect, and respond to vector-borne disease (VBD) threats.
The first workshop, held on August 25–26, 2025, focused on strengthening surveillance of VBDs such as dengue, chikungunya, and Zika by improving the completeness, accuracy, and timeliness of national surveillance data. Participants, from epidemiology and environmental health units across eight CARPHA Member States, were trained to apply standardized Risk Assessment Matrices that link surveillance signals to predefined triggers for action. This step is vital for building a regional, data-driven Early Warning System (EWS) that ensures consistent, timely responses to outbreaks across the Caribbean.
Building on this foundation, the second workshop, held on August 27–29, 2025, advanced hands-on training in Integrated Vector Management (IVM), Insecticide Resistance Testing (IRT), and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). These tools allow for stronger community-level interventions by linking real-time entomological and environmental data to predictive mapping and hotspot analysis. Enhanced IRT capacities help countries detect resistance patterns and adjust vector control strategies, while GIS mapping strengthens outbreak forecasting and VBD risk modelling. Together, these technical improvements enhance both preparedness, epi-intelligence and rapid response capabilities.
By hosting these two workshops in sequence, CARPHA created a direct bridge between regional strategy and community-level practice. Strengthening technical areas like IVM, IRT and GIS at the local level is essential to translating national strategies into concrete interventions. This integrated approach improves both the predictive capacity and the response readiness of Member States, ensuring that early warnings are based on robust data and linked to interventions that are scalable and tailored to local realities.
The workshops produced several important outcomes. Participants strengthened their technical capacity in mosquito monitoring, insecticide resistance testing, and GIS mapping, and will return home better prepared to apply early warning systems in their national contexts. Countries also shared experiences and best practices, paving the way for more consistent regional approaches to mosquito surveillance and outbreak response. Just as importantly, the workshops fostered closer collaboration between ministries of health, academic institutions, and regional partners, reinforcing the multisectoral coordination needed to reduce the public health and socio-economic impacts of vector-borne diseases in the Caribbean.
Dr. Lisa Indar, Executive Director of CARPHA, highlighted the significance of the workshops:
Vector-borne diseases remain a significant public health challenge in the Caribbean. It is a challenge that can place immense pressure on our health systems, economies and communities. These workshops represent a milestone in strengthening our collective ability to predict and respond to outbreaks through innovation, collaboration, and evidence-based action. By bringing experts together under one roof, CARPHA is ensuring that the region is better prepared for today’s threats while also building resilience for the future.”
Dr. Horace Cox, Director of Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control (SDPC) at CARPHA, underscored the technical value:
“The Caribbean now has stronger technical foundations in entomological surveillance, insecticide resistance monitoring, and GIS-supported early warning systems. These advances will support our Member States in making faster, better-informed decisions that can save lives and reduce the socio-economic impact of vector-borne diseases.”
The workshops were made possible through funding from the Pandemic Fund Grant. CARPHA is the Executing Agency for the grant, with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) serving as the Implementing Entity. The broader CARPHA Pandemic Fund Project supports efforts to reduce the public health impact of pandemics in the Caribbean by strengthening early warning systems, laboratory networks, workforce capacity and regional coordination.
About CARPHA’s Pandemic Fund Project
CARPHA is the Executing Agency for its Pandemic Fund Project, with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as the Implementing Entity. The goal of this Project, which spans from 2024 to 2026, is to Reduce the Public Health Impact of Pandemics in the Caribbean through Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (PPR). The objective is to support the reduction of the public health impact of pandemics in the Caribbean by building pandemic PPR surveillance and early warning systems, laboratory systems and workforce capacity, regionally at CARPHA and at country levels. This will reduce the transboundary spread of infectious diseases and improve regional and global health security. CARPHA is the beneficiary of the PF project and CARPHA Member States are the participants. Learn more via CARPHA’s Pandemic Fund webpage.