CARPHA strengthens Cbean capacity for vector-borne disease surveillance, response

The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) has further strengthened the Caribbean’s capacity to detect, monitor, and respond to vector-borne diseases through the advancement of harmonised regional early warning systems and the integration of new technologies for surveillance and response.

This was achieved through a Regional Multisectoral Workshop on “Advancing Regional Vector-Borne Disease Surveillance through Technology and Harmonisation,” held from April 27 to 28 at the Pegasus Hotel, Exhibition Centre, Georgetown, Guyana, funded through CARPHA’s Pandemic Fund Project.

The workshop brought together 28 participants, including Vector Control and Epidemiology Officers from 12 CARPHA member states, members of the Caribbean Vector-Borne Disease Network (CariVecNet) Steering Committee, and CARPHA technical staff. Building on CARPHA’s year-long series of capacity-building workshops on vectorborne disease surveillance, the Georgetown session moved member states from technical preparedness and operational planning toward sustained implementation and regional integration. The previous workshops, held in Barbados in August 2025 and Trinidad and Tobago in December 2025, focused on integrated vector management, insecticide resistance testing, and geographic information systems, while supporting the Caribbean’s broader pandemic preparedness and response framework. This third workshop focused on standardising regional datasets, validating early warning indicators, and integrating new tools to support timelier, data-driven decisionmaking across epidemiological, entomological, and climate domains.

CARPHA’s Executive Director, Dr Lisa Indar, indicated, “As vector-borne diseases continue to pose a significant threat to Caribbean health systems and communities, CARPHA is working with member states to strengthen the systems needed to detect risks earlier and respond more effectively. Through CARPHA’s Pandemic Fund Project, we are advancing integrated early warning systems, building technical capacity, and supporting the use of data and new technologies to guide timely public health action across the region.”

CARPHA’s Director of Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control, Dr Horace Cox, further noted, “Effective surveillance is at the centre of public health preparedness.

By strengthening the way countries collect, analyse, and share vector-borne disease data, we are improving the Caribbean’s ability to detect threats earlier and coordinate timely responses across the region.”

CARPHA’s Head of Vector-Borne Diseases, Dr Roshan Parasram, underscored, “We are here because the Caribbean deserves a public health system that can see threats coming and act before they become crises.

We have built our approach on three pillars: integrated vector management, insecticide resistance testing, and geographic information systems. These are not buzzwords. They are the operational backbone of a modern vector control system.”

Dr Brian Armour, technical advisor of CARPHA’s Pandemic Fund Project, said, “Our Regional Integrated Early Warning and Response System (RIEWSS) is about connecting data, systems, and people so that public health threats can be identified and acted upon more quickly. The integration of vector-borne disease surveillance into this broader early warning framework is an important step toward a more coordinated, data-driven approach to pandemic preparedness and response in the Caribbean.”

During the workshop, participants reviewed priority early warning indicators and core signals required from member states, with a focus on harmonising regional data across epidemiology, entomology, climate, and geographic information systems.

Structured technical sessions also explored the use of DHIS2 workflows, insecticide resistance analytics, remote sensing, artificial intelligence-enabled risk mapping, and social listening platforms to enhance situational awareness and accelerate decision-making.

DHIS2 is a digital health information management platform used to collect, manage, analyse, and visualise health data, supporting more timely public health surveillance and response.

Key areas addressed during the workshop included:

• Demonstration of the DHIS2 Vector- Borne Disease Module metadata framework, including standardised data elements, validation rules, and analytics dashboards for early warning functions.

• Presentation of an implementation pathway to integrate vector data with epidemiology, laboratory, and climate data to generate early warning signals.

• Use of DHIS2 workflows and insecticide resistance analytics to support operational decision-making.

• Introduction of remote sensing, artificial intelligence-enabled risk mapping, and social listening platforms to strengthen situational awareness.

• Discussion of scalable innovations such as spatial repellents and emanators for high-density urban settings.

• Formalisation of CariVecNet Steering Committee governance and its forward work plan.

The workshop also provided an opportunity for member states to identify priority innovations suitable for their national contexts and to outline the enabling requirements needed for adoption, including data systems, workforce capacity, governance arrangements, and partnerships. These discussions are expected to support more consistent reporting, improved regional comparability, and more timely targeting of vector control interventions.

(CARPHA)