The Caribbean small island developing states have limited resources for comprehensive health care provision and are facing an increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases which is driven by an aging regional population. Artificial intelligence (AI) and other digital technologies offer promise for contributing to health care efficiencies, but themselves are dependent on the availability and accessibility of accurate health care data. A regional shortfall in data professionals continues to hamper legislative recognition and promotion of increased data production in Caribbean countries.

The CaribData project, funded by the Inter-American Development Bank and implemented by The University of the West Indies, aims to enhance data-handling, -sharing and reuse capabilities in the Caribbean. The project focuses on four main objectives: developing an online data-handling platform, creating a sustainable training and mentoring program, launching a data communication initiative and conducting data availability audits.

The dissemination of biomedical research data beyond academia remains limited. In response, funding agencies now regularly require that the projects they fund make research data openly available for reuse. This emerging open data movement aims to democratize data access, often guided by the FAIR data technical standards, requiring that data should be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. Recently, participant communities have advocated the idea that improving data democracy does not address the inequities underlying the power dynamics of research enterprises.

Objective

To document and compare risk factors and control measures for the largest measles outbreaks in the post-elimination era in the Region of the Americas. 

Methods

Description of risk factors such as vaccination coverage, notification rate of suspected cases, measles incidence, and a summary of control measures for major measles outbreaks in six countries from 2017 to 2023. The analysis also includes a review of outbreak characteristics (time, place, and person). 

Objective

Identify the challenges that Mexico faced during the measles outbreak during the COVID-19 pandemic and describe the interventions to interrupt measles virus circulation. 

Methods

Descriptive, retrospective study of actions taken during the measles outbreak during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Objective

Describe good practices in epidemiological surveillance implemented in El Salvador between 2019 and 2023 to sustain the elimination of measles, rubella, and congenital rubella syndrome. 

Method

Special descriptive report on the implementation of good epidemiological and laboratory surveillance practices for measles, rubella, and congenital rubella syndrome from 2019 to 2023. 

Objective

To assess the contribution of rapid vaccination monitoring to the achievement of vaccination coverage targets in catch-up vaccination campaigns. 

Methods

Data on catch-up vaccination were obtained from the database of the Directorate of Vaccine- Preventable Diseases. Data analysis was performed in Stata V.15®. Frequency and summary statistics were calculated; the p value was used to determine statistical significance. The change in mean coverage between interventions was assessed with Student’s t-test. 

Objective

To describe the experiences of the National Advisory Commission on Serious Events Supposedly Attributable to Vaccination or Immunization (ESAVI) implemented in Ecuador for the period 2020–2023. 

In Honduras, health systems have been faced with a duty and a need to establish surveillance mechanisms in order to understand the pathways of health and disease in the population. The objective of this article is to describe the process of analysis and the strategies used during development of a robust information system for vaccine safety surveillance, which can also be replicated for other forms of surveillance.

Objective

To describe the continuing education strategies implemented as part of the academic training of health workers; related barriers and facilitators; and the perceptions of health workers in sentinel hospitals in Honduras regarding changes in their knowledge.