Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. November 26, 2025. The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) successfully hosted its second One Health Multidisciplinary Workshop to Promote Integrated Surveillance for Foodborne Diseases and Zoonoses on November 24–25, 2025, at the HYATT Regency Trinidad. Foodborne and zoonotic diseases continue to pose serious threats to public health, trade, and tourism in the Caribbean. The One Health approach, which integrates human, animal, and environmental health sectors, to effectively addresses foodborne diseases (FBD) and zoonoses across the farm to table continuum, provides a sustainable framework to address shared risks and reduce disease burden of FBD and zoonoses. This workshop, funded by CARPHA’s Pandemic Fund grant, marks a major step in moving to operationalisation of integrated One Health surveillance systems across the Region.
As a strong testimony of alignment with the One Health theme, a total of eighty-three (83) persons from twelve (12) CARPHA Member States and a resounding eighteen (18) regional and international agencies participated; including : epidemiologists, laboratorians, veterinary officers, environmental health officers and communication officers from Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Trinidad and Tobago; and the following multidisciplinary agencies: CARICOM, St. George’s University (SGU); the Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD); the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA); the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI); the Caribbean Animal Health Network (CaribVET); the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA); the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO); the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission; the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); The University of the West Indies (UWI) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).
The workshop built directly on the achievements of the 2024 inaugural meeting that developed the Regional One Health FBD and Zoonoses Action Plan, updated National Action Plans (NAPs), and launched new coordination mechanisms across sectors allowing real-time information exchange, including the One Health SharePoint digital platform utilized by agency partners. The 2025 workshop advanced this momentum by focusing on hands-on implementation, demonstrating CARPHA’s new Regional Integrated Early Warning and Information Surveillance Systems (RIEWSS), emphasizing the FBD/One health module available for implementation by MS, strengthened inter-agency collaboration for joint implementation, expanded CARPHA’s One Health SharePoint digital platform to include Member States, and conduct of CARPHA’s Tingua multisectoral simulation exercise to test Rapid Response readiness for FBD outbreaks.
“One Health is not just a word; it is a way of working,” said Dr. Lisa Indar, Executive Director of CARPHA, as she encouraged Member States to translate planning into action. “This workshop is a call to action. We must move beyond planning to fully be implementing the systems that protect our people, prevent illness, and preserve livelihoods”.
Delivering the keynote address, The Honourable Dr. Lackram Bodoe, Minister of Health of Trinidad and Tobago, reinforced the national and regional importance of the One Health approach and CARPHA’s key role in driving the regional One Health coordination process forward:
“CARPHA continues to emphasise the importance of a One Health framework. The Government is also looking at a One Health approach in how we govern the health sector going forward. One Health unites the veterinary, environmental, and human health sectors to prevent the spread of infections originating from animal reservoirs and contaminated animal products”.
Senator the Honorable Ravi Ratiram, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, stated “The health of our people cannot be separated from the health of our animals and our environment. This is not just a technical framework - it is a reality for every Caribbean nation. CARPHA’s leadership under the Pandemic Fund initiative strengthens our collective capacity to prepare, detect, and respond”.
Mr. Ian Ho-A-Shu, Senior Health Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank and Team Lead for the Pandemic Fund Project, highlighted the transformational impact of recent investments: “By strengthening surveillance, promoting integrated approaches, and fostering regional partnerships, we are laying the foundation for a healthier future”.
As implementation accelerates in 2025–2026, CARPHA and its partners will continue supporting Member States in operationalising their updated NAPs, integrating surveillance workflows into RIEWSS, and reinforcing regional coordination through the One Health Regional Coordination Platform. These efforts aim to strengthen early warning, improve response times, and reduce the public health impact of foodborne and zoonotic threats across the Region.
About the Pandemic Fund Project
CARPHA is the Executing Agency for the PF 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.
