The Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) has renewed a partnership with the Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) to strengthen regional cooperation in disaster management and public health resilience across the Caribbean.
The two regional organisations signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the sidelines of the recently concluded Caribbean Community (CARICOM) summit here.
“The Caribbean’s risk landscape is changing rapidly. Climate change, increasingly intense weather events, public health emergencies, and other emerging threats demand that we move beyond traditional approaches and strengthen collaboration across sectors,” said CDEMA’s executive director , Elizabeth Riley.
“This MOU between CDEMA and CARPHA reflects our shared recognition that resilience can only be achieved through integrated action and strong regional partnerships,” she added.
CARPHA’s executive director, Dr. Lisa Indar, spoke of the importance of integrating public health and disaster management.
“Health and disaster management are inseparable. This MOU brings together CARPHA’s public health expertise and CDEMA’s disaster coordination leadership to strengthen regional preparedness, build more resilient health systems, and better protect the people of the Caribbean from increasingly complex threats,” she said.
CARICOM Assistant Secretary-General Alison Drayton said the collaboration between CARPHA and CDEMA represents a practical expression of the Community’s commitment to building resilience through cooperation.
“By combining CARPHA’s technical leadership in health security with CDEMA’s expertise in disaster mitigation and emergency management, we are strengthening the regional architecture that protects Caribbean people before, during, and after crises.”
In a statement, CDEMA said that the MOU will strengthen the already established relationship, enhance cooperation between the two institution, and provide better coordinated action to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters and public health emergencies across the Caribbean.
For many years, CARPHA and CDEMA have worked together to support the CARICOM region in responding to hurricanes, disease outbreaks, and other emergencies. Through CDEMA’s Regional Response Mechanism (RRM), CARPHA has provided technical public health expertise during regional emergencies, supporting member states with disease surveillance, laboratory services, health assessments, risk communication, environmental health interventions, and emergency response planning.
Recent examples of this collaboration include the regional responses to Hurricane Melissa in 2025 and Hurricane Beryl in 2024.
Following the devastating impacts of these events across several Caribbean countries, CARPHA supported the health response as part of the CDEMA-led RRM by deploying technical experts to participate in rapid needs assessments, evaluate shelters and health facilities, strengthen disease surveillance, and provide guidance to national health authorities.
The statement said that under the agreement, the two agencies will strengthen coordination during regional emergencies, combining CDEMA’s leadership in disaster management with CARPHA’s technical expertise in public health.
“The partnership also promotes the protection of affected populations, the integration of health into regional disaster planning and response, the application of shared standards and best practices, and joint capacity-building initiatives through training, simulation exercises, technical exchanges, and knowledge sharing to enhance the region’s resilience.
“The partnership will also strengthen joint planning, capacity building, resource mobilisation, and operational coordination, enabling the Caribbean to better anticipate and respond to emerging threats while enhancing regional health security and disaster resilience,” the statement added. (CMC)