Carib Scope

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  • Hantavirus risk remains low amid cruise ship cluster, officials say

    Hantavirus risk remains low amid cruise ship cluster, officials say

    A small cluster of hantavirus infections linked to a Central Atlantic cruise ship has triggered monitoring efforts from regional and global health bodies, who are working to ease public panic while reinforcing border surveillance protocols.

    Local medical leaders in Barbados, a key Caribbean cruise hub, have moved quickly to reassure residents and visitors that the situation remains contained. Dr. Lynda Williams, president of the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners, told local outlet Barbados TODAY that there is no current justification for widespread alarm. “We are watching it, we’re observing and we’re listening to the updates,” Williams said, noting that the World Health Organization has not issued elevated warnings at this stage.

    Williams explained that while hantavirus is not typically transmissible between humans, the variant identified in the current cluster—the Andes strain—is the only documented subtype capable of limited person-to-person spread. She confirmed the affected cruise vessel has been placed under full quarantine, and the outbreak is currently under control. Hantavirus is extremely rare in Barbados, Williams added, with local cases almost always tied to direct rodent exposure, and she has only treated three to four cases across her entire decades-long career. Far more common bacterial infections like leptospirosis pose a far greater regular public health risk on the island, she noted. “It is nothing to worry about as yet. There’s nothing that has indicated to us that this is being spread in a widespread manner that is even an epidemic, furthermore, pandemic. There’s no need to panic,” Williams said.

    The global public health community was first notified of the cluster last Saturday, when the United Kingdom’s International Health Regulations focal point alerted WHO to a group of respiratory illnesses among passengers and crew aboard the Central Atlantic cruise ship. Laboratory testing has already confirmed hantavirus in one critically ill patient. As of Thursday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reported a total of eight identified cases: five confirmed infections and three suspected cases, all linked to the rare Andes strain.

    The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the regional body coordinating public health across Caribbean nations, has also joined efforts to calm growing public anxiety, confirming Wednesday that the overall regional risk remains low. “At this time, the risk to the Caribbean region is considered low,” said CARPHA Executive Director Dr. Lisa Indar. She explained that in the Americas, hantaviruses are most often carried by wild field rodents rather than common urban rat populations, a trait that makes sustained community transmission far less likely.

    Even with the low current risk, CARPHA is urging member states to maintain active vigilance and strengthen public health surveillance at major ports of entry, given the Caribbean’s outsized role in the global cruise industry. The region accounts for roughly 44% of global cruise traffic, and welcomed an estimated 16.3 million cruise passengers in 2025 alone. Indar noted that CARPHA’s existing Tourism and Health Information System and Caribbean Vessel Surveillance System are already active as key early warning tools to detect and respond to public health threats linked to tourism and maritime travel.

    Global WHO officials have further clarified the risks of the current outbreak, drawing a clear line between this hantavirus cluster and the emergence of COVID-19 in 2020 that triggered a global pandemic. “At this stage, the overall public health risk remains low,” Tedros confirmed. “This is not SARS-CoV-2. This is not the start of a COVID pandemic,” added Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s acting director for epidemic and pandemic management.

    For context, hantaviruses are a family of viruses naturally hosted by rodent populations that can cause severe, life-threatening illness in humans. Most human infections occur after direct contact with infected rodents, or exposure to their urine, droppings, or saliva. In the Americas, including South America where the Andes strain originates, infection causes hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS), a severe respiratory condition with a case fatality rate as high as 50%. The Andes strain is the only hantavirus subtype with confirmed limited human-to-human transmission, which only occurs after close, prolonged contact between people—most commonly among household members, intimate partners, or healthcare workers treating infected patients. In Europe and Asia, different hantavirus subtypes cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), marked by high fever, kidney damage or failure, and internal bleeding.

  • Ministry of Health and Wellness Receives ICT Equipment to Strengthen Maternal and Child Health Services

    Ministry of Health and Wellness Receives ICT Equipment to Strengthen Maternal and Child Health Services

    Belize’s Ministry of Health and Wellness has taken a key step forward in upgrading its national maternal and child health systems, after receiving a donation of critical information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure through a multi-partner international development project. The handover, held as part of the initiative ‘Strengthening the EMTCT Strategy with Maternal and Child Health Services,’ included 10 fully integrated all-in-one desktop computers and a high-resolution video projector, tools designed to address longstanding gaps in digital health capacity across the country’s public health network.

    The project draws financial support from the India-UN Development Partnership Fund, administered through the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, with on-the-ground implementation led by the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO). This collaborative effort aligns with broader global goals to expand equitable access to quality healthcare in low- and middle-income nations, leveraging South-South cooperation to share resources and expertise between developing economies.

    PAHO officials outlined that the new ICT equipment will transform core public health functions in Belize, from streamlining patient data management and strengthening infectious disease surveillance to improving laboratory workflow coordination and enhancing cross-team communication among frontline healthcare workers. These upgrades are expected to cut down administrative delays, reduce diagnostic wait times, and enable faster, more responsive care for expectant mothers and children across every region of the country.

    Beyond general health service improvements, the initiative directly supports regional and national efforts to eliminate the vertical (mother-to-child) transmission of four high-burden infectious diseases: HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B, and Chagas disease across the Caribbean. For Belize specifically, the donation will allow public health authorities to build on existing progress made in preventing mother-to-child transmission of these conditions, while strengthening the overall capacity of the country’s national public health system.

    During the official handover ceremony, stakeholders from Belize’s government, PAHO/WHO, and UN bodies emphasized that cross-sector, international partnerships remain the cornerstone of advancing public health outcomes for vulnerable populations. The event highlighted how targeted investment in digital health infrastructure can create lasting, systemic improvements that protect the health of mothers and children, who are among the most at-risk groups in any national healthcare system.

  • MoHW Receives ICT Equipment for Maternal Health Services

    MoHW Receives ICT Equipment for Maternal Health Services

    On May 7, 2026, Belize’s Ministry of Health and Wellness took delivery of a new suite of information and communication technology (ICT) equipment, delivered to upgrade maternal and child health services across the small Caribbean nation. This donation is a core component of a regional public health initiative titled “Strengthening the EMTCT Strategy within Maternal and Child Health Services”, which targets the complete elimination of mother-to-child transmission (EMTCT) of four major infectious diseases: HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B, and Chagas disease across the Caribbean region.

    As part of the multinational project, Belize received 10 desktop computers and one high-resolution video projector. These tools are designed to upgrade three critical pillars of the country’s public health system: data management, cross-agency disease surveillance, and laboratory coordination. Local health authorities emphasize that the new infrastructure will directly empower frontline healthcare workers, enabling them to deliver more efficient, time-sensitive care to expecting mothers and newborn children across the country.

    The cross-regional initiative is financed through the India-UN Development Partnership Fund, managed by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, with on-the-ground implementation led by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which also serves as the WHO’s regional office for the Americas.

    Belize has already established itself as a regional leader in EMTCT efforts. In 2024, the country earned official international certification for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of both HIV and syphilis, joining neighboring Caribbean nations Jamaica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines in achieving this landmark public health milestone.

    The broader project supports 15 Caribbean countries overall, with three core priorities: strengthening national leadership for maternal and child health, upgrading laboratory diagnostic capacity, and enhancing regional disease surveillance networks. PAHO officials note that reliable diagnostic testing and robust, interconnected health information systems are non-negotiable prerequisites to hitting collective elimination targets across the region.

    This investment comes as public health experts across the Americas raise growing concerns over a sustained rise in congenital syphilis cases. PAHO data confirms that reported cases rose sharply between 2016 and 2022, underscoring the urgent need for expanded monitoring and prevention infrastructure across the region.

    For Belize, the new ICT equipment will enable real-time data collection and continuous monitoring of maternal health outcomes, allowing the country to maintain its hard-won progress in EMTCT elimination. It will also set a regional benchmark for other Caribbean nations working toward their own official EMTCT certification. Looking ahead, PAHO’s broader 2030 agenda for the Americas aims to eliminate more than 30 communicable diseases and their related public health conditions across the region by the end of the decade.

  • WHO Warns of More Hantavirus Cases From Cruise Ship Outbreak

    WHO Warns of More Hantavirus Cases From Cruise Ship Outbreak

    Three fatalities have been recorded and dozens of nations have activated public health protocols following a hantavirus outbreak linked to the expedition cruise vessel MV Hondius, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to warn of additional confirmed cases in the coming days. The incident, which has drawn unwelcome comparisons to the uncoordinated early spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, unfolded after passengers disembarked the ship before health officials detected the outbreak, allowing potentially exposed travelers to disperse across the globe.

    As of May 7, 2026, three people – a Dutch couple and one German national – have died from the virus, after the ship embarked on its voyage from Argentina last month. On Thursday, the WHO officially confirmed five active hantavirus cases, with a formal advisory forecasting more diagnoses as contact tracing efforts expand. In a balancing move to avoid widespread public panic, global health leaders have stressed that the current risk profile differs sharply from the COVID-19 pandemic.
    The WHO emphasized that there is currently no evidence of sustained, human-to-human widespread transmission, and the agency does not expect the outbreak to escalate into a large-scale global epidemic. “We are working with relevant countries to support international contact tracing, to ensure that those potentially exposed are monitored and that any further disease spread is limited,” a WHO spokesperson said in a statement.

    Genetic sequencing has linked the outbreak to the Andes strain of hantavirus, a pathogen that is far less transmissible between people than SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Investigators currently believe the initial infections did not originate on the cruise ship itself. Instead, they trace the first exposure to an off-vessel bird-watching excursion that took passengers through wetlands and natural areas across Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay – regions home to rodent populations known to carry the Andes hantavirus strain.

    At present, potentially exposed and monitored passengers are spread across 26 countries, with major concentrations found in the Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Singapore. Of the original passenger complement, 146 people remain on board the MV Hondius, which is scheduled to dock in Tenerife, Spain this Sunday. Once the vessel clears port health inspections, the remaining passengers will be repatriated to their home countries via chartered flights.

  • From US to Singapore, cruise passengers are being monitored for hantavirus

    From US to Singapore, cruise passengers are being monitored for hantavirus

    A hantavirus outbreak linked to the expedition cruise vessel MV Hondius has triggered an international public health response, with the World Health Organization (WHO) confirming five confirmed infections among people connected to the ship and three deaths recorded as of Thursday. Health agencies across more than half a dozen countries are racing to trace contacts and contain the spread of the rare Andes strain of the virus, after passengers and crew dispersed globally before the outbreak was fully detected.

    The first suspected case emerged in mid-April, shortly after the ship departed Argentina on a cruise late last month. South Africa’s Department of Health confirmed the initial patient was a 70-year-old Dutch man who developed sudden symptoms including fever, headache, abdominal pain and diarrhea while on board, and died on the vessel on April 11. Two more fatalities followed: a second Dutch national and a German citizen.

    As of Thursday, 146 people from 23 different countries remain on the MV Hondius under strict precautionary quarantine protocols, according to the ship’s operator, Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions. Roughly 30 passengers disembarked at the remote South Atlantic territory of Saint Helena in late April, and several critically ill patients were airlifted to Europe for urgent medical care earlier this week. The remaining people on board are scheduled to arrive at Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands around noon local time Sunday, per updates from Spanish public health authorities. Once they dock, all passengers and crew will be repatriated via chartered flights to their home countries.

    Health systems across multiple nations are now managing active monitoring and treatment for people linked to the outbreak. In the Netherlands, three evacuated patients are currently receiving hospital care: a British national, a 65-year-old German citizen, and a 41-year-old Dutch crew member. Two of the three are in serious condition, while the third, who remains asymptomatic, is also under medical observation as a precaution. Separately, a KLM airline crew member is currently undergoing testing at an Amsterdam hospital after potential exposure to a deceased passenger who died in South Africa. If her test returns positive, she will be the first person infected with the virus outside of the ship’s passenger and crew roster. Infectious disease specialists at Amsterdam University Medical Center expect to receive test results by the end of Thursday.

    In South Africa, the second confirmed hantavirus case – a British passenger who fell ill on April 27 – remains in intensive care at a private Johannesburg hospital, though the WHO reports his condition is improving. Switzerland confirmed one additional positive case Wednesday: a passenger who returned home from the cruise is currently receiving treatment in Zurich. UK health authorities report seven British nationals disembarked at Saint Helena on April 24, two of which are isolating at home as a precaution, while four remain on the island and contact tracers are still locating a seventh who has not yet returned to the United Kingdom. U.S. public health officials are monitoring three repatriated asymptomatic passengers: two in Georgia and one in Arizona, with additional American passengers reported to have returned to Texas and Virginia. Singapore’s Communicable Diseases Agency confirmed two Singaporean men in their 60s who were on the cruise are self-isolating and undergoing testing, one with a mild runny nose and the other with no symptoms.

    The situation has drawn widespread international attention, with many observers drawing comparisons to the early, unmanaged spread of COVID-19, as passengers had already dispersed across the globe before the full scope of the outbreak was understood. Oceanwide Expeditions confirmed Thursday it is working closely with global health authorities to map the full travel history of all passengers and crew who boarded or disembarked the MV Hondius at any stop after March 20.

    Public health officials have stressed that the outbreak is tied to the Andes strain of hantavirus, a rare pathogen that can spread between humans through close prolonged contact, though it does not easily transmit at a population level. While the WHO acknowledges additional cases are likely to emerge in the coming weeks as contact tracing continues, the organization stressed it does not expect a large-scale global epidemic similar to COVID-19, and there is currently no evidence of widespread community transmission risk.

    Investigators are still working to pinpoint the origin of the outbreak, but the WHO is working under the leading hypothesis that the two deceased Dutch passengers were infected before they ever boarded the MV Hondius, during pre-cruise sightseeing in Argentina. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters Thursday that the first two infected patients completed a bird-watching tour through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay that included stops at locations where rat species known to carry hantavirus are endemic. Because hantavirus has an incubation period of between one and six weeks before symptoms appear, public health officials explain that patients often become infected weeks before they start showing signs of illness.

  • Antigua and Barbuda Ranked Among CARICOM States With Lowest Maternal Mortality Rate

    Antigua and Barbuda Ranked Among CARICOM States With Lowest Maternal Mortality Rate

    The latest 2025 joint report from the United Nations, compiled by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNFPA, the World Bank Group and UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, has painted a mixed picture of maternal mortality progress across the 14 CARICOM member states, documenting decades of broad gains but a concerning slowdown in improvements over the last eight years.

    The 2023 estimates included in the report highlight dramatic disparities in lifetime risk of pregnancy-related death across the bloc, which brings together Caribbean nations to foster regional integration and cooperation. At the highest end of risk, Haiti faces a grim lifetime maternal mortality risk of 1 in 118, while Antigua and Barbuda boasts one of the lowest risks in the region at 1 in 2,108. Most CARICOM nations fall between these two extremes, with lifetime risks ranging from 1 in 500 to 1 in 2,100 – a better outcome than the global average lifetime risk of 1 in 272, and on par with the broader Latin America and Caribbean regional average of 1 in 789.

    When tracking change across the 23-year period from 2000 to 2023, progress has been far from uniform across the bloc. Five nations – Suriname, Guyana, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Dominica – have achieved remarkable gains, cutting their maternal mortality rates by 40% or more since 2000. Haiti and several other CARICOM nations have also recorded net reductions over the full 23-year timeline. However, the report identifies three notable outliers: Jamaica, The Bahamas, and Grenada, all of which saw higher maternal mortality levels in 2023 than they recorded in 2000.

    Beyond the uneven national results, the data confirms a clear slowdown in maternal mortality reduction across the region over the most recent eight-year period, mirroring a broader trend across Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole. Between 2000 and 2023, Latin America and the Caribbean recorded the smallest overall reduction in maternal mortality of any world region, at just 16.8%.

    Even amid these challenges, the report notes a key bright spot: eight out of the 14 measured CARICOM countries have already hit the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal target for maternal mortality, which calls for fewer than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030.

  • WHO says hantavirus risk low as countries prep repatriation flights

    WHO says hantavirus risk low as countries prep repatriation flights

    In a coordinated global response to an emerging hantavirus outbreak linked to a Dutch-flagged cruise ship, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will travel to Spain’s Canary Island of Tenerife this weekend to oversee evacuation and public health protocols, Spanish government ministry sources confirmed Friday. Tedros will join Spain’s health and interior ministers at an on-island command post on Saturday to align cross-administration coordination, strengthen health monitoring, and ensure planned surveillance and response measures are implemented correctly, the sources added.

    Three passengers on the MV Hondius — a Dutch couple and a German national — have already died from complications of the rare virus, which is most commonly carried and spread by wild rodent populations. A number of other passengers and crew have also fallen ill, and testing has confirmed the presence of Andes virus, the only known hantavirus strain capable of person-to-person transmission, a development that sparked widespread international concern. The vessel, which carries roughly 150 passengers and crew on board, is scheduled to reach Tenerife’s waters on Sunday, after which specialized repatriation flights will carry international passengers back to their home countries.

    Despite rising public anxiety, WHO officials emphasized Friday that the overall risk of widespread transmission to the general public remains extremely low. “This is a dangerous virus, but only for people who have direct exposure to an infected individual; the risk to the broader population stays absolutely minimal,” WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told reporters in Geneva. Early observations from the outbreak on the MV Hondius have reinforced this assessment, Lindmeier noted: in multiple instances where infected passengers shared close cabin space with travel companions, the secondary contacts have not developed infections. “The virus is not so contagious that it spreads easily from person to person,” he explained. As of Friday, the WHO recorded five confirmed cases and three suspected cases of the virus on the ship, with no active suspected cases remaining on board.

    In one promising development Friday, the WHO announced that a KLM flight attendant who developed mild symptoms after coming into contact with an infected Hondius passenger tested negative for hantavirus. The infected passenger, the wife of the first fatality in the outbreak, boarded a KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam on April 25 but was removed from the aircraft before takeoff, and died the next day in a Johannesburg hospital. Lindmeier called the negative test result “good news”, as it confirms that even close contact with an infected person does not guarantee transmission.

    Spanish health officials confirmed Friday that a separate passenger on that same KLM flight, who was seated two rows behind the infected woman, developed symptoms and is currently isolated in a hospital in eastern Spain while undergoing testing. Health Secretary Javier Padilla described the risk of this case being a positive infection as “pretty unlikely”. Additionally, a South African passenger who was also on the flight remains asymptomatic in her home country after completing a week-long stay in Barcelona before returning, Spanish interior sources confirmed.

    The MV Hondius departed Ushuaia, Argentina on April 1 for a transatlantic cruise bound for Cape Verde. Early in the voyage, three suspected cases — two of which later tested positive for the virus — were evacuated from Cape Verde to the Netherlands for treatment. German health officials confirmed Friday that the third suspected case tested negative, though the individual will remain under public health observation as a precaution. Two Dutch public health specialists, including a European Centres for Disease Control expert and a WHO representative, are now on board the vessel conducting ongoing risk assessments.

    Kasem Ibn Hattuta, a YouTuber traveling as a passenger on the Hondius, said the arrival of medical specialists has reassured passengers on board. “We finally left Cape Verde which was a relief for everyone on board, especially knowing that our sick colleagues are finally getting the medical care they need,” he shared in a statement. Hattuta added that the passenger cohort has remained in good spirits despite the disruption: “People are smiling and taking the situation calmly.” All passengers and crew are following public health guidelines, including mandatory mask-wearing in indoor spaces and physical distancing, he noted.

    Multiple countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States, have already organized dedicated repatriation flights to retrieve their citizens from the ship. Spanish authorities have confirmed that the vessel will anchor off the coast of Tenerife and will not be permitted to dock at the island’s port. After anchoring, passengers will be transferred to shore via smaller utility vessels, then transported by chartered bus directly to Tenerife’s airport for their repatriation flights. The Canarian regional government noted that the entire evacuation must be completed between Sunday and Monday, as adverse weather conditions are forecast to move into the area after that window.

    The announcement of the ship’s arrival drew protests from dock workers in Tenerife on Friday, who raised public safety concerns about the outbreak. During its voyage, the MV Hondius made stops at several remote British territories in the South Atlantic. British health authorities confirmed Friday they are investigating a suspected hantavirus case on Tristan da Cunha, one of the world’s most remote inhabited settlements, which is home to roughly 220 permanent residents.

  • CARPHA urges caution even as hantavirus infection risk low in the Caribbean

    CARPHA urges caution even as hantavirus infection risk low in the Caribbean

    A cluster of hantavirus cases linked to a central Atlantic cruise ship has prompted regional health authorities in the Caribbean to issue guidance for port and maritime surveillance, even as officials confirm the overall risk of widespread infection across the region remains low. The outbreak, which has already resulted in one death, has centered on the MV Hondius, a cruise vessel that made a stop on the remote Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha in mid-April, and has drawn coordinated monitoring from global and regional health bodies.

    Dr. Lisa Indar, executive director of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), broke down the contextual factors that keep regional risk muted. Unlike outbreaks in other parts of the world, hantavirus in the Americas is primarily spread by wild field rodents rather than urban rat populations, which naturally limits transmission opportunities. While the pathogen can spread between humans, she noted that such cases are extremely uncommon, with only the Andes strain found in South America carrying a limited potential for person-to-person spread through prolonged, close contact with infected, symptomatic people.

    As of the most recent updates, the United Kingdom government has confirmed three of its citizens are linked to the outbreak: two have received confirmed hantavirus diagnoses. One of those patients is now in stable condition in the Netherlands after being evacuated from the vessel earlier this week, while the second remains in intensive care in South Africa following evacuation last month. A third British national on Tristan da Cunha is currently classified as a suspected case. In total, five confirmed cases have been recorded in the outbreak, including one fatality among the cruise’s passengers.

    St. Kitts and Nevis officials have also confirmed one of their citizens was aboard the MV Hondius, but have stressed that no confirmed or suspected hantavirus cases have been detected within the country’s borders to date.

    Hantavirus is a potentially severe zoonotic disease that jumps to humans from infected rodents, most often through contact with contaminated rodent urine, feces, or saliva. The most common route of infection is inhalation of airborne particles that have been contaminated with rodent excrement from nesting materials. The Andes strain, present in parts of South America, is the only variant with documented person-to-person transmission capacity.

    The global public health alert process for the outbreak began on May 2, when the United Kingdom’s International Health Regulations (2005) Focal Point notified the World Health Organization of the respiratory illness cluster affecting passengers and crew of the cruise ship. At that time, one critically ill patient had already received a laboratory-confirmed hantavirus diagnosis. CARPHA received an alert about the emerging situation one day later through its dedicated public health monitoring and information platform.

    Given that the Caribbean is the world’s top cruise tourism destination, accounting for roughly 44% of all global cruise traffic and welcoming an estimated 16.3 million cruise passengers annually, CARPHA is urging all its member states to maintain ongoing vigilance against potential imported cases. The agency is advising national authorities to review and reinforce public health protocols and vessel surveillance systems, particularly at ports of entry where international cruise vessels dock.

    CARPHA says it remains committed to supporting safe tourism across the Caribbean through enhanced public health surveillance infrastructure. Two of the agency’s key systems, the Tourism and Health Information System and the Caribbean Vessel Surveillance System (CVSS), are designed to deliver early warnings for public health threats tied to tourism accommodation and maritime travel. Dr. Indar explained that these platforms streamline timely information sharing, improve national decision-making, and allow national health authorities to roll out rapid, targeted responses to emerging threats.

    To date, the advanced CVSS has already delivered strong results in detecting syndromic (symptom-based) suspected cases before vessels arrive at Caribbean ports. The system has a track record of sharing more than 96% of all cruise ship public health alerts with member states within 24 hours of detection. CARPHA says it will continue close monitoring of the outbreak in partnership with regional and international stakeholders, and will issue new updates to member states and the public as the situation evolves.

  • Antigua and Barbuda Joins Regional Push Against Mercury in Skin-Lightening Products

    Antigua and Barbuda Joins Regional Push Against Mercury in Skin-Lightening Products

    Widespread global use of harmful skin-lightening products laced with mercury has spurred the World Health Organization (WHO) to roll out a groundbreaking new behavioural insights toolkit, designed to help nations tackle the root causes of this dangerous public health trend and advance global efforts to eliminate toxic mercury-containing cosmetics.

    Developed as a core component of WHO’s multi-country initiative to eradicate mercury-infused skin-lightening goods, the toolkit equips public health authorities with structured resources to unpack the social, cultural and personal drivers that lead communities to use these products. The data and insights gathered through the framework are critical to crafting targeted, context-appropriate policies and interventions that reduce consumer demand for goods linked to severe health and environmental harm.

    Skin-lightening practices remain common across dozens of countries worldwide. While these products work by suppressing the body’s production of melanin, the pigment that gives skin its color, a large share of over-the-counter options contain hazardous mercury, a chemical WHO has ranked among the top 10 substances posing the greatest threat to global public health. Even low-dose exposure to mercury can trigger permanent neurological damage, and it carries particularly severe risks for fetal development and young children’s growth. Beyond human health, mercury also inflicts lasting environmental damage: when product residue is washed off during daily use, it enters wastewater systems, accumulates in soil, waterways and ecosystems, and persists in the environment without breaking down.

    Global momentum to eliminate mercury-containing cosmetics has grown in recent years, aligned with obligations under the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the international treaty designed to protect human and environmental health from mercury pollution. Convention parties have increasingly recognized that regulatory action alone cannot solve the problem; understanding the behavioural drivers of consumer demand is essential to effective prevention. This growing consensus is formalized in the 2025 Libreville Commitment, signed in Gabon, which requires nations to integrate behavioural science approaches into national strategies to eliminate mercury-containing skin-lightening products.

    Between 2022 and 2026, pilot projects implemented in Gabon, Jamaica and Sri Lanka with funding from the GEF-UNEP partnership generated key lessons for national-scale implementation. The trials underscored the urgent need for targeted workforce capacity-building, iterative tool testing and adaptation, audience segmentation to address different user groups, efficient resource allocation, and strengthened national data analysis systems.

    A standout feature of the new toolkit is a customizable user journey mapping template, which helps public health stakeholders visualize the full cycle of how consumers first encounter skin-lightening products, begin regular use, and eventually adopt the practice as a long-term habit. By building on existing research to map context-specific user journeys, officials can identify high-impact intervention points where public health messaging and policy will resonate most effectively. This framework shifts action away from one-size-fits-all generic solutions toward targeted, strategic interventions that align with real-world behavioural patterns, allowing nations to prioritize limited resources for maximum impact. The first published user journey, focused on women’s experiences with skin-lightening products, draws on evidence from a 2026 global systematic review of skin whitening practices led by researcher Williams et al.

    “Understanding the complex set of social, cultural and economic influences that lead people to voluntarily use skin-lightening products has to be the first critical step in designing effective interventions and policies to end these harmful practices,” explained Elena Altieri, Global Lead for Behavioural Insights at WHO headquarters. “Behavioural insights and user journey mapping show us exactly where, when and how to intervene most effectively. This toolkit gives researchers a standardized, evidence-based approach while still enabling them to generate context-specific insights that work for their national populations.”

    The toolkit was officially launched on February 25, 2026, in Panama City during a regional workshop focused on mercury elimination for the Americas and Caribbean. The launch event brought together senior representatives from ministries of health and environment across the region, including delegations from Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Mexico, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago, alongside other public and private sector stakeholders.

    In addition to the user journey mapping framework, the full toolkit includes qualitative and quantitative data collection instruments, clear ethical guidance for conducting behavioural research with vulnerable communities, and practical actionable recommendations for translating insights into policy. It is built on empirical evidence from behavioural studies conducted across 43 countries, as well as on-the-ground implementation lessons from the recent pilot projects, making it a tested, adaptable resource for nations of any income level grappling with harmful skin-lightening practices.

  • CARPHA says Hantavirus threat to Caribbean remains low amid cruise ship cases

    CARPHA says Hantavirus threat to Caribbean remains low amid cruise ship cases

    A recent hantavirus outbreak linked to a Central Atlantic cruise ship has put global public health authorities on alert, though regional leaders in the Caribbean are moving quickly to reassure communities and travelers that the risk of local transmission remains low.

    The incident first came to international attention on May 2, 2026, when the United Kingdom’s International Health Regulations (2005) Focal Point formally notified the World Health Organization (WHO) of an unexplained cluster of respiratory illness striking both passengers and crew aboard the vessel. Laboratory analysis later confirmed hantavirus infection in one patient who was in critical condition. By May 6, the WHO had updated its tally to 8 connected cases: three confirmed infections, five suspected cases, and three reported fatalities.

    The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) first detected the emerging incident through its automated Information Environment and Monitoring platform on May 3, activating its regional response protocols just days after the initial notification. For context, hantaviruses are zoonotic pathogens carried primarily by rodents, with human infection occurring through direct or indirect contact with infected animals’ contaminated urine, saliva, or fecal droppings. While rare cases of person-to-person transmission have been documented, CARPHA leadership emphasizes that such spread is highly uncommon.

    In an official statement aimed at calming public concern, CARPHA Executive Director Lisa Indar stressed that the overall threat to Caribbean nations remains minimal. “In the Americas, hantaviruses are most commonly transmitted by wild field rodents rather than urban rat populations, where transmission is far less likely to occur,” Indar explained. She also reaffirmed that the region’s existing public health infrastructure is well-equipped to detect and contain any potential importation of the virus.

    The warning comes at a critical time for the Caribbean’s $35 billion cruise tourism industry: the region accounts for roughly 44% of global cruise traffic and welcomed more than 16.3 million cruise passengers in 2025 alone, making maritime public health surveillance a top priority for economic and community health. In light of the outbreak, CARPHA is urging all member states to review and strengthen existing disease monitoring protocols at ports and other border entry points, to catch potential imported cases before they can spread.

    Indar noted that the agency has long invested in specialized monitoring infrastructure tailored to the region’s tourism-dependent economy, and these systems are already delivering results. CARPHA’s existing tools, including the Tourism and Health Information System (THiS) and the upgraded Caribbean Vessel Surveillance System (CVSS), are designed to deliver early warnings for public health threats linked to travel, maritime vessels, and tourism accommodations. “These systems enable timely information sharing, strengthen decision-making, and support rapid, targeted responses by national health authorities,” Indar said.

    Early performance data for the upgraded CVSS shows that the system already identifies syndromic (symptom-based) suspected cases before vessels dock at Caribbean ports, with more than 96% of cruise ship public health alerts delivered to member state health authorities within 24 hours of detection. CARPHA says it will continue to track the Central Atlantic outbreak closely in coordination with the WHO and other international partners, and will issue public updates immediately if the risk profile changes. The agency also reaffirmed its long-term commitment to protecting both local communities and the region’s vital tourism sector through proactive, data-driven public health action.