NASSAU, The Bahamas – The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), in collaboration with The Bahamas ministry of health and wellness, conducted a mass gathering (MG) risk assessment and implemented the MG event-based surveillance for the country’s upcoming annual Junkanoo Festival, and other upcoming mass gathering events.
Mass gatherings can pose increased public health risks and challenges for the host community. In light of this, CARPHA conducted a training workshop to strengthen The Bahamas’ capacity to identify and respond to potential threats, in “real-time”, during the festival. he MG surveillance training was carried out using the novel, electronic, real-time, MG surveillance module, developed by CARPHA and successfully utilised in Caribbean nations, during the recently concluded International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup.
During the launch of the workshop, Dr Michael Darville, minister of health and wellness reaffirmed his ministry’s commitment to implementing proactive surveillance to reduce the risk of disease spread within the population, as well as the significant number of visitors on the islands. Minister Darville acknowledged the “complexities of 12 million visitors coming into a population of 450 thousand” annually and the need to ensure robust and resilient public health systems for the continued economic growth of the country. The minister also endorsed CARPHA as a key public health partner, saying that the Agency is “a world recognised institution with high-level professionals and leads in many public health programmes, especially in tourism.”
Dr Lisa Indar, ad interim executive director, in her remarks explained the need for elevated surveillance and indicated:
“Mass gathering events such as junkanoo, carnival and cricket in the Caribbean are unique and key cultural and economic pillars for all CARPHA Member States (CMS) that draw large numbers of visitors from around the world”. Dr Indar added, “visitors no longer just want to be happy, they want to be happy and healthy.”
Dr Indar also spoke about the relevance and benefits of mass gathering surveillance to the overall public health landscape and underpinned the need to ramp up and utilise the available electronic surveillance tools that will facilitate rapid identification and response to public health threats emerging from mass gathering events.
The CARPHA team presented minister Darville with three tablets to facilitate real-time field data entry during the Junkanoo Festival and other mass gathering events throughout the year. The capacity built from the Junkanoo risk assessment and MG training will be used by The Bahamas’ national planning and coordination team to guide them in developing and implementing relevant risk mitigation strategies and interventions to reduce the festival’s current risks.
This mission was supported through CARPHA’s Pandemic Fund project, which has the core objective of supporting the reduction of public health impact of pandemics in the Caribbean of which mass gatherings pose an ever-present risk. The launch of the training workshop took place on Thursday 21st November 2024 in The Bahamas.
