About PAHO

Office of the CPC

The Office of Caribbean Program Coordination (OCPC) is a PAHO sub-regional office in the Caribbean that was established in October 2006, with functions focused to develop and implement the Caribbean sub-regional technical cooperation program, responding mainly to the CARICOM Health Agenda – the Caribbean Cooperation in Health (CCH III). Accordingly, the OCPC will strengthen its collaboration with and support the CARICOM Secretariat in all matters related to health.

The OCPC also works closely with PAHO Country Offices in the sub-region to complement the technical expertise where required in each country.

In order to better streamline our technical cooperation in the Caribbean, the OCPC also coordinates the technical cooperation provided by the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) and the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute (CFNI) within the framework of the CCH III, regional and global mandates.

Given the role of the OCPC, Dr. Ernest Pate, the PAHO Caribbean Program Coordinator, acts as the main interlocutor on behalf of the Organization with Sub-regional authorities and relevant entities on matters pertaining to the advancement of the Sub-regional technical cooperation, in particular the implementation of CCH III. The OCPC is based on the former OCPC that was established in Barbados in 1978.

In line with the Country Focus Policy and in an effort to improve the effectiveness of technical cooperation (TC) delivered by the Organization to Caribbean countries, the former OCPC was restructured in October 2006 in order to increase effectiveness of multi-agency and multi-country coordination with Caribbean technical cooperation.

The OCPC objectives is are:

• To enable the entire Organization to support the Caribbean sub-region in achieving the objectives of its health agenda and contributing to global and regional public health action
• To draw on the experience of the sub-region and its member countries and institutions in building a body of public health knowledge that can benefit the countries, sub-region, region and the world

The OCPC role is to:

• Represent PAHO/WHO in the major Caribbean sub-regional integration processes, institutions and entities with responsibility for liason and coordination with international and multilateral organizations in the Caribbean.;
• Support the major Caribbean sub-regional integration processes, including the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), UWI and other academic institutions in the sub-region, and NGOs and other civil society associations, so that resolutions they approve will give attention to health and be consistent with the policies and strategies approved by the Governing bodies of the Organization;
• Coordinate sub-regional activities in the Caribbean implemented by all PAHO/WHO organizational units including the PAHO/WHO specialized centres, CAREC and CFNI; and
• Serve as the channel of communications between other PAHO/WHO organizational units and the sub-regional integration processes, institutions and entities in the Caribbean

The main functions of OCPC include:

• Identifying sub-regional priorities for PAHO/WHO technical cooperation;
• Developing plans with clearly defined objectives;
• Cooperating with health and other Caribbean sub-regional authorities and entities, as well as technical units, in planning and programming to build inter-sectoral capacity, including for epidemic alert and response and emergency preparedness and disaster relief coordination

OCPC focuses on the following areas of PAHO's technical cooperation:

• Strategic approaches to building human resource capacity in the sub-region
• Support mechanisms for strengthening health systems in the subregion
• Sub-regional support mechanisms for providing the evidence base for decision making and policy formulation
• Improving access and ensuring effective systems for the management and regulation of essential public health supplies, laboratory supplies and other commodities at the sub-regional level
• Advocacy and support for all programs, and serving as interlocutor between programs and sub-regional entities like CARICOM
• Strengthening public health leadership