About PAHO

PAHO in the Caribbean

There is a long history of PAHO involvement in the Caribbean, since Zone Offices were created in 1951 before any of the territories had gained their independence. The Zone I office in Caracas, Venezuela, had the responsibility for technical cooperation with the Caribbean Territories.

In the 1960s, as the countries became independent and formally joined PAHO as sovereign states, the role of the Zone Offices changed. In this post-independence era the first English-speaking Caribbean country to join PAHO was Jamaica on August 23, 1962. Other countries gained membership with the organization in the following order:

As the role of the Zone Offices changed Country Offices were created, each headed by a Representative of the Director. In 1975 the Zone Offices were designated Area Offices but Caracas still retained responsibility for much of the technical cooperation in the English-speaking Caribbean sub-region.

In 1978 the Office of Caribbean Program Coordination was established in Barbados in recognition of the commonality of health problems in the sub-region. This similarity of health systems originated in the common historical development and the long standing tradition of collaboration in health among these countries. Many of the resources were transferred from Caracas.

At this time, in addition to the Office of Caribbean Program Coordination, the English-speaking Caribbean is served by Country Offices headed by PAHO/WHO Representatives (PWRs) in the:

• Bahamas (responsible for Turks and Caicos Islands)
• Belize
• Jamaica (responsible for Bermuda and the Cayman Islands)
• Guyana
• Suriname
• Trinidad and Tobago

The Dutch Islands are served through the Office in Venezuela and other non English-speaking Caribbean countries are served through Offices in Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. PAHO has Centers in which scientific and technical resources are concentrated to support the needs of all the countries. Two (2) of these PAHO Centers are located in the Caribbean:

• The Caribbean Epidemiology Center in Trinidad and Tobago, and
• The Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute in Jamaica

These centers are also supported by the CARICOM member countries. Together with the Office of CPC, the centers provide a unique network of sub-regional programs for the Caribbean.

All countries have access to all PAHO resources located at the Regional level, in other Country Offices and in other PAHO Centers through their designated PAHO/WHO Representative. Other PAHO Centers are:

PAHO can also mobilize resources from selected national Centers of Excellence with which it has Collaborative Agreements. These are known as WHO or PAHO Collaborating Centers. There are three such centers in the Caribbean;

• Barbados Drug Service
• Department of Community Medicine and Psychiatry (Health & Aging), UWI, Mona, Jamaica
• University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica

See also PAHO-WHO: www.paho.org