GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — The Director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), Dr Jarbas Barbosa, is ending a three-day visit to Guyana on Wednesday that was highlighted by the signing of an agreement designed to provide a coordinated framework for technical cooperation to address common public health challenges in the Caribbean.

Barbosa signed the Joint Subregional Cooperation Strategy with Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretary General, Dr Carla Barnett on Tuesday.

The initiative will cover Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, as well as the five associate members of Caricom, namely Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

“This signing marks a milestone in a long-standing partnership rooted in trust, mutual respect and a shared vision for the health and well-being of the peoples of the Caribbean,” said Barbosa.

He stated that the Caribbean faces unique and interconnected public health challenges, including the growing burden of non-communicable diseases, the ongoing threat of climate change, and the need for digital transformation and stronger, more resilient health systems.

“These challenges do not stop at borders, and neither can our solutions,” the PAHO director said.

Barnett said that this agreement “is a landmark moment in our partnership with PAHO, which has been instrumental in focusing our health policies and our public health delivery, and ensuring we can take care of the health of the people of the community”.

Guyana’s Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, said, “This strategy affirms that health is not just a service, it is a right. In the Caribbean, that right must not be dictated by where you live, by your income, or your age.”

PAHO said that the cooperation strategy outlines five strategic priorities for its technical cooperation in the subregion.

These include enhancing resilience of primary health care-based health systems, which hinges on several key areas: bolstering evidence-based decision-making, fostering robust workforce policies and training for a resilient health workforce, implementing a comprehensive digital transformation policy, and ensuring widespread access to quality, affordable medicines, vaccines and health technologies.

It will also seek to advance climate adaptation, mitigation, disaster preparedness and response to enhance environmental sustainability and health security.

PAHO said this will focus on climate emergency preparedness, as well as the implementation of climate adaptation strategies to enhance health sector resilience, and the integration of environmental health considerations into regional public health policies and programmes.

The strategy is also intended to strengthen multisectoral action towards surveillance, prevention and control of non-communicable disease (NCDs), violence, injuries, mental health conditions and their risk factors

“Within this area, PAHO and Caribbean countries will collaborate on developing policies to mitigate non-communicable disease (NCD) risk factors. They will also accelerate the implementation of NCD management initiatives, including PAHO’s Better Care for NCDs and cervical cancer elimination strategies. A key focus will also be on expediting the transition to community-based mental healthcare.”

PAHO added that the strategic priority will be advancing the prevention, control and elimination of priority communicable diseases through subregional coordination with the One Health Approach.

“This strategic priority will focus on accelerating the elimination of communicable diseases through the strengthening of policies to promote vaccination as a public good. It will also look to enhance surveillance and early-warning systems to enable countries to respond quickly to outbreaks of communicable diseases.”

The United Nations (UN) agency said that enhancing technical cooperation through partnerships, resource mobilisation and advocacy will also form part of the strategy.

It said this includes the development of a subregional framework in partnership with Caricom to enhance resource mobilisation, as well as engagement with decision-makers to address priority health issues.

“As we sign this strategy…let us also renew our commitment to work together — not just as institutions, but as allies, and as a community bound by common purpose,” said Barbosa, who during his visit also held talks with Guyana’s Prime Minister, Mark Phillips, to discuss vital improvements being made to the health system.

Top of the agenda was the impact of health worker migration, and the importance of utilising new technology, such as PAHO’s hybrid nursing programmes to expand nurse training, particularly for countries of the Caribbean that face similar issues with training and retention,” PAHO said.