Cayman Islands health officials are looking to apply lessons from across the United Kingdom’s overseas territories after attending a public health conference in London.
Representatives from the Ministry of Health, Environment and Sustainability joined chief medical officers, public health leaders and healthcare professionals at the UK Overseas Territories Public Health Conference held at the end of June.
The event also brought together representatives from the UK Health Security Agency, the Caribbean Public Health Agency and other partner organisations to discuss common public health priorities, emerging challenges and approaches to improving population health.
Delegates shared presentations on the issues facing their countries and the strategies being used to address them.
Topics included health protection, emergency preparedness, prevention, health equity, behavioural science, community resilience and tackling health inequalities.
In a press release on 9 July, Cayman’s chief medical officer Dr Hilary Wolf said the conference reinforced the importance of the islands’ relationship with public health partners in the UK.
“The UK overseas territories benefit significantly from the expertise, technical support and resources available through our partnership with the UK Health Security Agency and other UK organisations,” she said.
“These longstanding relationships enable us to share knowledge, learn from emerging evidence and strengthen our collective capacity to respond to public health challenges.
“As we continue to develop public health policy in the Cayman Islands, these partnerships remain an invaluable resource.”
Chief nursing officer Felicia McLean said discussions around prevention, health equity and community engagement were particularly relevant to Cayman.
“Many of the discussions focused on prevention, health equity and community engagement,” she said.
“These are priorities that resonate in the Cayman Islands, and it was valuable to learn how other jurisdictions are working across sectors to improve health outcomes and strengthen community resilience.”
As part of the programme, the Cayman delegation took part in three site visits hosted by Lewisham Council and local health partners.
The visits included the borough’s Health Equity Teams programme, which was developed to address racial health inequalities through partnership working, as well as the North Lewisham Primary Care Network and Red Ribbon’s Healthy Hearts programme, which focuses on cardiovascular health and community engagement.
Delegates also visited the Lewisham Alliance Primary Care Network and Coco Collective’s Plantain Programme, where they examined partnership models aimed at improving health outcomes in diverse communities.
According to the ministry, the visits provided insight into how primary care providers, local authorities and voluntary sector organisations work together to deliver services, engage communities and use local data to target interventions.
Policy support officer Halle Miller said the conference provided an opportunity to exchange ideas with public health professionals from across the territories.
“I leave with a renewed appreciation for the commitment of public health colleagues across the region, and I look forward to collaborating on future initiatives to strengthen health security and improve health outcomes across our territories,”
Chief officer Tamara Ebanks said the conference provided ministry staff with experience, strengthened relationships with regional and international partners and offered knowledge that could support evidence-based public health policy development in Cayman.
