PAHO/WHO Strategy for Technical Cooperation with the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) in the Caribbean, 2016-2022

ABSTRACT

The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) provides technical cooperation to the UKOTs in the Caribbean through its offices in the Bahamas (to the Turks and Caicos Islands), the Office of Eastern Caribbean Countries (serving Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and Montserrat) and Jamaica (serving Bermuda and the Cayman Islands). Discussions regarding the development of a Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) for the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) in the Caribbean were initiated in 2008, when the then Ministers of Health made a briefing visit to the PAHO/WHO Headquarters (HQ) in Washington. In July 2014, another visit of the Ministers of Health was made to PAHO HQ. At the end of that meeting it was agreed that a Multi-country Strategy would be developed to outline PAHO’s Technical Cooperation to the six (6) UKOTs in the Caribbean - Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands (BVI), the Cayman Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI). This is the first time that a multi-country strategy for technical cooperation has been developed with the aim of creating synergies among the UKOTs to address the social and environmental conditions that impact health, mobilize resources and facilitate the development of a unified position and a stronger political voice with regard to health matters in the Caribbean.