TCI Health Team Enhances Regional Public Health Emergency Readiness at CARPHA Workshop in Jamaica  

Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands 14 July 2025 – A team of senior health professionals from the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) recently returned from a critical regional training workshop aimed at strengthening the Caribbean’s capacity to respond to public health threats through advanced early warning and emergency response systems.

The four-member delegation – Mr. Andrico Garland (Chief Medical Technologist), Ms. Alrisa Gardiner (Primary Health Care Manager), Ms. Khris-Ann Lawson (Environmental Health Officer), and Ms. Natasha Robinson (Health Surveillance Officer) – represented the Ministry of Health and Human Services at the Regional Multisectoral Workshop hosted by the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) from July 8 to 11, 2025, in Kingston, Jamaica.

The training, under the theme Strengthening Emergency and Response (E&R) and Integrated Early Warning Systems (EWS), brought together over 60 health professionals from 11 CARPHA Member States. It focused on enhancing national preparedness, outbreak response, and real-time coordination through integrated early warning systems (EWS) and digital surveillance platforms tailored for the Caribbean context.

The workshop provided TCI’s health team with hands-on experience in using CARPHA’s digital surveillance tools, including the Tourism and Health Information System (THiS), and the Mass Gathering Syndromic Surveillance System (MGSS). These systems will be pivotal in improving the country’s ability to detect, respond to, and manage health threats, especially in high-risk environments such as tourism zones and during mass gatherings.

A key highlight was the introduction of the Timeliness Metrics Strategy – a new regional framework that enables countries to evaluate how swiftly they move from detecting a health threat to initiating a response. This strategy is crucial for small island nations like TCI where rapid action can prevent widespread outbreaks.

Through participation in the workshop, the TCI health delegation identified several critical areas to enhance the territory’s public health preparedness. Among these is the need to enhance the pandemic preparedness plan that will guide coordinated responses across different units within the health sector. The team also emphasized the importance of integrating sustainable early warning systems into TCI’s existing surveillance infrastructure, while recognizing the challenges that can arise from multisectoral coordination and data-sharing across agencies.

The delegation also noted the growing importance of mental health and recommended that psychological first aid and mental health preparedness be embedded into emergency response strategies. These insights will inform future planning and help ensure that TCI is better positioned to manage public health emergencies.

The Ministry of Health and Human Services is committed to incorporating these recommendations in to their work plan. Emphasis will be placed on securing additional resources to support detection infrastructure, building national resilience, and ensuring alignment with international health regulations.

This initiative forms part of CARPHA’s broader Pandemic Fund Project, supported by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the European Union, aimed at bolstering regional health security through prevention, preparedness, and response.

For additional information, please visit the Ministry of Health and Human Services Facebook page on https://www.facebook.com/tciministryofhealth.