Trinidad

Partnership Profile

The University of the West Indies (UWI). established in 1948, is the oldest, fully regional institution of higher learning in the Commonwealth Caribbean and is supported by 15 countries—all current or former colonies of Great Britain. Today, UWI has expanded to four campuses that serve the Caribbean region: Mona (Jamaica), Cave Hill (Barbados), St. Augustine (Trinidad & Tobago), and the Open Campus (which offers multi-mode teaching and learning services through 42 virtual and physical site locations to 16 countries across the English-speaking Caribbean).

Partnership with the UAB Sparkman Center for Global Health (SCGH) was formalized in 2008 with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with an initial focus on public health. The UAB SCGH has worked in the Caribbean region since the early 1980s when it partnered with the UWI campus at Mona, Jamaica to develop an MPH program there. UAB Schools that may become involved in activities with UWI-St. Augustine, in addition to the School of Public Health, are Medicine, Nursing, Health Professions, Natural Sciences & Mathematics, and Engineering. 

Accomplishments 

The initial activity in this collaboration was the development and implementation of a Master of Public Health (MPH) program, which was launched in the fall of 2009. The new MPH is being offered as a part-time program over two years. The program, which is jointly offered by the Faculty of Medical Sciences and the Faculty of Science and Agriculture, is designed to equip persons to use and apply principles, methods and analytical techniques of public health and allied disciplines for the improvement of population health and well-being within the context and setting of the Caribbean region and globally. Students can choose from three tracks: Epidemiology, Environmental and Occupational Health, and Health Economics.

Other Potential Areas of Collaboration

  • Partnering on vector-borne diseases studies

  • Facilitating studies in the areas of sexually transmitted infections, including chlamydia and trichomoniasis

  • Linking of our respective departments of biology to facilitate training and research in a broader number of interest areas for both departments

  • Developing bi-directional health care training opportunities

  • Facilitating programs in areas such as tuberculosis, chronic diseases, and environmental health

Through collaborative activities such as these, the SCGH and UWI-St. Augustine will have the potential to serve as a resource for other countries in the Southern Caribbean region.