The Caribbean region faces distinct health challenges shaped by constrained resources, a growing burden of noncommunicable diseases, and environmental vulnerabilities. Open data presents a powerful avenue for tackling these issues by enhancing transparency, encouraging collaboration, and enabling more effective use of health data to improve care and outcomes. This special issue explores how data accessibility and open collaboration can transform our ability to deliver evidence-based health solutions across the Caribbean small island developing states.
This edition brings together a series of articles that collectively introduce the potential of open health data in the Caribbean. Several articles consider data production and availability, highlighting the challenges faced by Caribbean nations in generating and maintaining high-quality, accessible data. This includes an analysis of statistical capacity across small island developing states, the challenges of routine health information systems in Trinidad and Tobago, and initiatives to overcome barriers to data availability throughout the region.
Novel uses of available data to drive health improvements is explored with the development of “data journey maps”—re-imagining health data collection as a journey we each make through our healthcare system—and with a case study on sentiment analysis during the COVID-19 pandemic in Jamaica that informed public health policy.
Three articles present examples of regional data-sharing activities. The Eastern Caribbean Health Outcomes Research Network (ECHORN) aims to increase access to longitudinal health data resources and promote community engagement. The CaribData project seeks to enhance the region’s capacity for data-sharing and data-communication, and the Cohorts Consortium of Latin America and the Caribbean is a major collaboration across 13 countries to standardize and offer a combined data resource for exploring cardiovascular health.
The ethical aspects of data-sharing are discussed through the SHARE framework, emphasizing the importance of ensuring equity, cultural sensitivity, and ethical standards when managing and sharing health data.
This special issue is made possible through the generous support of the Inter-American Development Bank, the Pan American Health Organization, and The University of the West Indies. Their commitment to advancing the health sector in the Caribbean through collaboration and innovation in data handling has been instrumental. We hope that the findings and insights shared here will inspire further research, policy-making, and collaborative solutions that can address the pressing health challenges faced by the Region.
Read more on open data in the Caribbean and the IDB-financed CaribData Project.
Additional manuscripts will be published in early 2025 as they become available.