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The UWI Regional Headquarters, Jamaica W.I. Tuesday, June 22, 2023 \u2014 Public health experts from The University of the West Indies (The UWI) have expressed concern over the lack of Caribbean representation on the O\u2019Neill-Lancet Commission on Racism, Structural Discrimination and Global Health; a commission tasked with identifying and promoting the implementation of anti-racist actions and strategies by states, civil society actors, and global health institutions, to reduce structural discrimination.<\/p>\n
In an article published by The Lancet, one of the world\u2019s leading general medical journals and co-convenor of the Commission, Dr Sandeep Maharaj, Associate Dean and Lecturer \u2013 Faculty of Medical Sciences, The UWI, St. Augustine; Dr Darleen Y. Franco, Public Health and Primary Care Physician, Northwest Regional Health Authority, Trinidad & Tobago; and Professor Terence Seemungal, Dean, Faculty of Medical Sciences, The UWI, St. Augustine articulate their concerns; \u201cIt is rather disappointing and somewhat sad The Lancet can have a Commission on racism, structural discrimination, and global health and not have a single commissioner from the Caribbean.\u201d Pointing to history, the article states \u201cThe entire (Caribbean) region was born out of colonization by people who felt entitled to take land that belonged to the indigenous people and almost wiped them off the face of the planet, either violently, or via one of the first massive global health transfers of disease (especially smallpox).\u201d<\/p>\n
Noting that the inequities are still very present, the public health experts argue \u201cEven though a century has passed since the abolition of slavery and the end of indentureship, inequities in the region still exist today.\u201d They referenced evidence in \u2018the COVID-19 vaccine scandal\u2019 which saw the Caribbean in a long queue to purchase vaccines. The article concludes that despite myriad challenges \u201cCaribbean people have made tremendous contributions globally to all aspects of development and the Caribbean must be allowed to articulate its views, particularly in areas of racism and structural discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officially convened in March 2023, the Commission was founded on the recognition that racism, not race, creates and maintains unjust and avoidable health inequities in countries around the world. It will leverage partnerships and engage communities for research to diagnose the problem of racism in health, publish public reports of the findings and foster policy dialogue. The Commission hopes to use its empirical research to identify best practices and actionable anti-racist strategies.<\/p>\n
The twenty-two-member, cross-sector team will conduct its work under the leadership of co-chairs Tialeng Mofookeng, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health and Ngozi Erondu, Senior Scholar, O\u2019Neill Institute & Technical Director, Global Institute for Disease Elimination (GLIDE).<\/p>\n
Commissioners represent the African continent, Europe, North and South American, South and Western Asia, Australia and The Pacific Islands, and have worked and conducted research globally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UWI Regional Headquarters, Jamaica W.I. Tuesday, June 22, 2023 \u2014 Public health experts from The University of the West Indies (The UWI) have expressed concern over the lack of Caribbean representation on the O\u2019Neill-Lancet Commission on Racism, Structural Discrimination…","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":296928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[77,235,9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-304453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-homepage-carousel","category-news","category-regional"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n