Roseau, Dominica, 8 September 2026 (PAHO/WHO) – The Ministry of Health, Wellness and Social Services, with technical support from the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) through the Pandemic Fund project for Eastern Caribbean Countries, has begun development of a Centralized Health Workforce Database and Dashboard of Indicators (CHWD+) to strengthen health workforce planning as part of pandemic preparedness.
The initiative will improve the access to quality health workforce data for evidence-based decision-making related to the health workforce. This includes enhancing Dominica’s capacity to prepare for and respond to public health emergencies. It is also intended to complement human resource management while supporting national, regional and international reporting requirements, including the National Health Workforce Accounts.
During a workshop held from 2–4 September 2026, participants examined key considerations around strategic health workforce planning and the evidence needed to support it. These participants represented the Ministry of Health, Dominica Hospitals Authority, Dominica Medical Board, Dominica Nursing Council, tertiary educational institutions including All Saints University and the American Canadian University School of Medicine, and other partner organizations.
A core group from the Ministry of Health, the Dominica Hospitals Authority, and professional bodies focused on the tailored development of Dominica’s CHWD+ built on the DHIS2 platform. This group reviewed the proposed structure of the CHWD+, defined the data to be collected, and its sources. The group also initiated discussions on tailored workforce analytics and reports needed, given Dominica’s unique health service delivery context.
These sessions were facilitated by Dr. Viswanath Partapsingh, PAHO/WHO Advisor, Health Systems and Services for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Countries.
Addressing participants on behalf of Dr. Eva Jane Llopis, PAHO/WHO Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Countries, Dr. Nicole Slack-Liburd, PAHO/WHO Country Program Specialist for Dominica, emphasized that effective health workforce planning must consider the full range of personnel who contribute to the delivery of health services, while also drawing on partnerships beyond the health sector.
“This initiative highlights the importance of collaboration across sectors. Academic institutions play an important role in developing both our future health workforce and those already serving who continue to advance their training. Ministries responsible for education, training and recruitment also have an important contribution to make, as does the Ministry of Agriculture within a One Health approach to pandemic preparedness and response,” Dr. Slack-Liburd said.
Once implemented, CHWD+ will provide decision-makers with a clearer picture of the country’s health workforce, including its distribution, qualifications and specializations. Through accompanying dashboards of workforce analytics, strategic health workforce management can be optimised towards achieving a skilled, competent and equitable distributed health workforce, support succession planning, and identify training priorities. The next phase will focus on populating the database and finalizing the tailored dashboards.
Nurse Priscilla Prevost, President of the Dominica Nursing Council, also underscored the importance of recognizing the contribution of the wider health workforce, including personnel who may not traditionally be considered clinical staff.
“This workshop will benefit the Ministry of Health, the Nursing Council and others engaged in providing services because oftentimes there are people who may not be part of the ‘medical personnel’ per se, but they contribute to the human resources for health in the country,” Nurse Prevost stated.
The CHWD+ workshop formed part of a wider five-day PAHO/WHO technical cooperation mission, conducted from 31 August to 4 September 2026, to advance implementation of the Essential Public Health Functions, including work to strengthen the health financing functions.
The development of CHWD+ is supported through the Pandemic Fund project, “Strengthening Prevention, Preparedness and Response to Emerging Health Threats in the Eastern Caribbean,” which supports Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
