Nassau, Bahamas:  The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), in collaboration with The Bahamas Ministry of Health and Wellness, conducted a mass gathering (MG) risk assessment and implemented the MG event-based surveillance for the country’s upcoming annual Junkanoo Festival[1], and other upcoming mass gathering events.

Mass gatherings can pose increased public health risks and challenges for the host community.  In light of this, CARPHA conducted a training workshop to strengthen The Bahamas’ capacity to identify and respond to potential threats, in “real time”, during the festival.  The MG surveillance training was carried out using the novel, electronic, real time, MG surveillance module, developed by CARPHA and successfully utilised in Caribbean nations, during the recently concluded International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup.

During the launch of the workshop, The Honourable Dr Michael Darville, Minister of Health and Wellness reaffirmed his Ministry’s commitment to implementing proactive surveillance to reduce the risk of disease spread within the population, as well as the significant number of visitors on the islands. Minister Darville acknowledged the “complexities of 12 million visitors coming into a population of 450 thousand” annually and the need to ensure robust and resilient public health systems for the continued economic growth of the country. The Minister also endorsed CARPHA as a key public health partner, saying that the Agency is “a world recognised institution with high-level professionals and leads in many public health programmes especially in tourism”.

Dr Lisa Indar, Ad Interim Executive Director, in her remarks explained the need for elevated surveillance and indicated, “Mass gathering events such as junkanoo, carnival and cricket in the Caribbean are unique and key cultural and economic pillars for all CARPHA Member States (CMS) that draw large numbers of visitors from around the world”.  She added, “visitors no longer just want to be happy, they want to be happy and healthy”.

Dr Indar also spoke about the relevance and benefits of mass gathering surveillance to the overall public health landscape and underpinned the need to ramp-up and utilise the available electronic surveillance tools that will facilitate rapid identification and response to public health threats emerging from mass gathering events.

The CARPHA team presented  Minister Darville with three tablets to facilitate real-time field data entry during the Junkanoo Festival and other mass gathering events throughout the year.  The capacity built from the Junkanoo risk assessment and MG training will be used by The Bahamas’ national planning and coordination team to guide them in developing and implementing relevant risk mitigation strategies and interventions to reduce the festival’s current risks.

This mission was supported through CARPHA’s Pandemic Fund project, which has the core objective of supporting the reduction of public health impact of pandemics in the Caribbean of which mass gatherings pose an ever-present risk.

The launch of the training workshop took place on Thursday 21st November 2024 in The Bahamas.  Attendees included The Honourable Dr Michael Darville, Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Phillip Swann, Acting Director of the Department of Public Health, Mrs. Coral Miller, Deputy Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health and Wellness, Ms. Brenda Colebrooke, Senior Under Secretary Ministry of Health and Wellness and Dr Felicia Greenslade, Officer-in-Charge of the Surveillance Unit. The CARPHA team comprised Dr Lisa Indar, Ad Interim Executive Director, Mr. Keston Daniel, Coordinator, Visitor-based Surveillance and Mr. Mohamed Elsherbiny, Senior Technical Advisor.

About the Pandemic Fund Project:

The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the sole public health agency for the Caribbean region, is the Executing Agency for the Pandemic Fund (PF) Project: RG-T4387, 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.

The PF was approved at the highest level by the Council for Human and Social Development, as well as by CARPHA’s Executive Board and other stakeholders, including Chief Medical Officers. This is a regional 3-year project (2024-2026). The public signing of Technical Cooperation Agreement to implement the project was on December 14, 2023.

 About the CARPHA Electronic Mass Gathering (MG) Surveillance Module:

The MG surveillance module is a product of the CARPHA’s Tourism and Health Program (THP), one of the Agency’s innovative programmes that addresses health, food safety and environmental sanitation (HSE) threats impacting sustainable tourism in the Caribbean through real-time, early warning and response surveillance systems, guidelines, capacity building, HSE standards, policy, advocacy and partnerships.

In 2024, this portfolio was expanded to included mass gathering surveillance given the elevated public health risk these events pose to regional health security. The THP aims to strengthen countries’ capacity to prepare for and respond to public health threats, thereby improving citizen and visitor health, tourism resilience, economic sustainability and the event itself.

With the success of MG surveillance during the ICC T20 World Cup and the endorsement of this electronic system by Ministers of Health in the Region, through the Council of Human and Social Development-Health, The Bahamas recognised the system’s high value and solicited the support of CARPHA to implement and build capacity in MG surveillance for its annual Junkanoo Festival.