CARPHA and CTO partner to establish a Tourism and Health Programme

The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) has partnered with the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) to establish a Tourism and Health Programme.

The goal of this programme is to improve the health, safety, quality and sustainability of the Caribbean tourism industry thereby contributing to the industry and the region being more competitive and sustainable.

Secretary General of the CTO, Hugh Riley, said that partnering with CARPHA gives access to an immediate and authentic source of information about health risks to the Caribbean.

“Through CARPHA’s guidance we will be able to assist our tourism stakeholders in understanding how best to handle a situation that might threaten the health of our citizens and our visitors”.

Recognising that the Caribbean is the most tourism dependent region in the world and that the industry is vulnerable to health, safety and environmental issues, such as food borne and enteric disease outbreaks, and climatic change, Dr C. James Hospedales, Executive Director of CARPHA pointed out that “challenges faced in the industry are preventable through collaborative efforts with regional and global partners to improve monitoring and response, training and standards. In so doing, CARPHA is responding to an identified need in the region as the majority of CARPHA’s member states are dependent on tourism.”

Successful implementation of this programme will also assist Member States to meet global commitments, such as those contained in the (revised) International Health Regulations (2005) for strengthening surveillance and response capacity, assessment and management of food safety events, and building human resources. (TL)