From framework to field: Trinidad and Tobago begins implementing SARI sentinel surveillance

Port of Spain, 14 August 2026 (PAHO) — Trinidad and Tobago has taken steps to implement Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) sentinel surveillance on the ground, with joint site assessments recently conducted at Sangre Grande Hospital and Scarborough General Hospital.

The assessments build directly on work completed in 2024, when the Ministry of Health's Epidemiology Division developed national guidelines and standard operating procedures for integrated sentinel surveillance of respiratory viruses, aligned with the World Health Organization's Mosaic Respiratory Surveillance Framework. That work designated Sangre Grande Hospital and Scarborough General Hospital as the country's two sentinel sites, defined clear case definitions for Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI), Influenza-like Illness (ILI), and SARI, and set out the responsibilities of doctors, nurses, IPC staff, and laboratory personnel at each facility.