CARPHA unveils new 2025-2030 strategic plan to tackle region’s health threats

Jul 31, 2025 News

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Kaieteur News – The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) on Wednesday unveiled its 2025 to 2030 Strategic Plan which is themed ‘Stronger Together: Advancing Caribbean Health through Collaboration, Innovation and Sustainable Action’.

The six-year plan aimed at tackling health threats across the Caribbean region was launched at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Georgetown.

Unveiling the strategic plan in front of a packed gathering of health officials from more than 20 CARPHA Member States, was Executive Director of CARPHA, Dr. Lisa Indar who stated that the launch is not just the unveiling of a document but the reaffirmation of a regional commitment, a collective promise to safe guard the health and wellbeing of every Caribbean citizens through unity, forward thinking and sustain strategic action.

Dr. Indar shared that this strategic plan was developed through a highly consultative and participatory process with inputs solicited from member states, regional and international institutions, international development partners which all helped to ensure that the strategic plan targets the current as well as the emerging public health needs and priorities of the CARPHA member states and that it would pave the way for improved collaboration and coordination with its institutions and IDPs.

The Executive Director noted that this plan is grounded in the six strategic priorities areas from the previous strategic plan (2018 to 2022) but key emerging threats to public health such as antimicrobial resistance, and crime and violence have been integrated to the new plan. “These strategic priorities are aligned with key global and regional development frameworks including the Sustainable Development Goals, the SDGs, the CARICOM strategic plan, CARPHA’s regional integrated surveillance strategy, and the Caribbean Corporation and Health (CCH),” Dr. Indar explained.

Further, she said that the plan includes a focus on results through the adaption of the results based management approach for delivery of public health interventions.
“So today is not just about launching a plan, it is about renewing our collective determination not only to recover from the crisis of the past but to build stronger, smarter, more resilience systems that can withstand the challenges of tomorrow,” Dr. Indar mentioned.

Among some of the benefits member states can expect from CARPHA based on this new strategic plan are improved delivery of technical interventions guided by the One Health approach, the exploitation of its intimate knowledge of the Caribbean context to develop and deliver interventions that are tailored to the Caribbean context like no other entity has, and the improved efficiency in uses of resources and delivery of value for money particularly in the current climate where resources are being diverted to areas where they are most needed.

Dr. Indar added too that this plan is a living blue print that outlines how CARPHA will continue to support member states in improving population health, reducing health inequities and strengthening regional health security.

Delivering the keynote address at yesterday’s proceedings was Deputy Secretary- General of the CARICOM Secretariat, Dr. Armstrong Alexis who said the CARICOM Secretariat remains committed to supporting CARPHA and urges member states to continue dialogue on advancing health.

“This, for me, is very significant as it comes in the backdrop of recent changes in the global economic landscape that necessitate a paradigm shift in the setting of priorities and ensuring that our institutions in the Caribbean better position themselves to address the growing needs of our region and its people,” the Deputy Secretary- General said.
He noted the CARPHA Strategic Plan 2025-2030 does not exist in isolation and that it complements and supports the broader health goals of the CARICOM Secretariat Strategic Plan 2022–2030. According to him, both plans emphasise the urgent need to build resilient health systems capable of responding to public health threats. “Ladies and gentlemen, we gather at a time when strategic clarity, alignment and implementation are not optional; on the contrary, they are essential ingredients for success and as I alluded earlier, the current shifts in the multilateral system compels us to be more strategic in our planning, more deliberate in our design and more focused in our approaches to secure results for our people. The global context in which the Caribbean must now operate is marked by overlapping crises, economic uncertainty, climate volatility, increased disease threats and persistent structural changes and challenges. These are complex issues, but they are not new to us, and while they evolve, we must our institutional responses. It is therefore timely and commendable that CARPHA has laid out a plan that is both responsive and forward-looking,” Dr. Alexis said.

He also added that the CARICOM Secretariat sees this Strategic Plan as an opportunity to strengthen structured collaboration between the Secretariat, CARPHA and other regional entities, and a road map to guide how member states align their priorities and collaborate on critical regional imperatives.

Further, applauding CARPHA on the development of this strategic document, the Deputy Secretary- General related that it highlights a review of the achievements, challenges and the recommendations to not only mitigate current threats, but to be strategically positioned to address future and re-emerging health threats.

Meanwhile, in his virtual presentation, Minister of Health in Grenada, and Chairman of CARPHA’s Executive Board, Dr. Philip Telesford, said the unveiling of CARPHA’s 2025 – 2030 strategic plan is not just a technical milestone, that it is a bold declaration of political will of leadership in action and of their unwavering commitment to safeguarding the health and wellbeing of every Caribbean citizens.

“It is a living document shared by our past, grounded in our present and designed to meet the future head on,” Dr. Telesford mentioned.

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• Caribbean Public Health Agency, CARICOM, Dr. Lisa Indar, health threats, Strategic Plan

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