Launch of the Health and Research Unit
A new unit has been established at the Cave Hill Campus to bolster scholarship aimed at combatting health challenges in the region, including non-communicable diseases (NDCs).
The Law and Health Research Unit seeks to develop a comprehensive toolbox to guide law and policy making and assist in the identification of ‘good practice’ laws and policies for governments to adopt.
It is the brainchild of Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Law, Nicole Foster and will be supported by a six-member advisory committee.
Members include: Professor Simon Anderson, Director of the George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre; Justice Winston Anderson, Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and Chair of the CCJ Academy for Law; Dr Kenneth Connell, the Faculty of Medical Sciences representative; Dr Margherita Cína, Institute Associate at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University; Maisha Hutton, Executive Director of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition, and the Dean of the Faculty of Law at the Cave Hill Campus as an ex-officio member.
The O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, with which the Faculty of Law has partnered, has contributed US$140,000 to the initiative.
Foster said the unit will build awareness of and advance the use of law as a tool to protect and promote health, and support a more health-focused approach to policy making and legislative action.
More specifically, its work will focus on academic scholarship to allow for knowledge generation and awareness building in the areas of law and health; capacity building through education and training to create a cadre of legal professionals who can provide technical support and advocacy on law and health, and technical assistance to governments and civil society actors on law and policy reform and implementation.
Principal of the Cave Hill Campus, Professor the Most Honourable Eudine Barriteau said the establishment of the unit underscores the commitment of the institution to revitalise and protect Caribbean societies.
She stated that a multidisciplinary strategy is needed to address the complexities of NCDs, while noting that interdisciplinary research opportunities and collaborations are necessary for scholarship to flourish.
“Through this unit, we should introduce an annual joint legal and medical conference where scholars from the legal and health and medical sectors meet to present their research and create new public health policy aimed at improving the quality of life and wellbeing in Caribbean societies,” she said.
Professor Barriteau pointed to examples of what such partnerships have accomplished in the past, including legislation to ban smoking in public places and the implementation of seatbelt laws.
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