Learning Together: A Canada-Cuba Research Collaboration to Improve the Sustainable Management of Environmental Health Risks

• Published in: Canadian journal of public health 2006-01, Vol.97 (1), p.50-55
• Main Authors: Spiegel, Jerry, Garcia, Maricel, Bonet, Mariano, Yassi, Annalee
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Canada; Collaboration; Communication; Community; Community Health Planning; Cuba; Curriculum; Dengue; Ecological sustainability; Ecosystems; Environmental health; Environmental Health - education; Epidemiology; Health Policy; Human capital; Humans; Income inequality; International development; International Educational Exchange; Practice; PRACTICE/PRATIQUE; Public health; Public Health - education; Public policy; R&D; Research & development; Research - organization & administration; Research Support as Topic; Risk Assessment; Risk Management; Sustainable management; Time Factors
• ISSN: 0008-4263; 1920-7476
• DOI: 10.1007/BF03405215

Objective: To build a national Cuban capacity for training environmental health professionals directly linked to the needs of policy-makers and communities. Participants: The University of Manitoba and University of British Columbia collaborated with an established training centre in Cuba (the Instituto Nacional de Higiene y Epidemiologia – INHEM) and new centres in the Central (Santa Clara) and Eastern (Santiago) regions of the country. Setting: Cuba Intervention: In the mid-1990s, a comprehensive curriculum (masters and diploma programs) was collaboratively developed, applying interactive teaching methods, and was delivered through a series of workshops and other interactions in Cuba, and short-term visits to Canada by Cuban PhD students. Outcomes: The collaboration was successful in fulfilling capacity-building targets (over 50 Masters graduates, 467 Diploma graduates, over 30 trained core faculty in all regional centres as well as new curriculum and new accredited regional programs). Alongside this, a number of collaborative community-based research projects were undertaken in all three regions (drinking water in Santiago; housing and urban renewal, and dengue control in Havana; and tourism-related effects, and effective intersectoral management of population health determinants in Santa Clara). Conclusion: The collaboration led to adopting new strategies for challenges such as a dengue epidemic in 2002, and new research on the effectiveness of intersectoral management of risks of particular interest to both Cuban and Canadian policy-makers. It triggered an ambitious collaboration between the Canadian-Cuban team and colleagues in Ecuador in order to build a similar national network there, built on South-South and North-South links. Objectif : Créer à Cuba une capacité nationale de formation de professionnels en salubrité de l'environnement directement liée aux besoins des décideurs et des collectivités. Participants : L'Université du Manitoba et l'Université de la Colombie-Britannique ont collaboré avec un centre de formation bien établi de Cuba (l'Instituto Nacional de Higiene y Epidemiología - INHEM) et de nouveaux centres dans la région centrale (Santa Clara) et la région orientale (Santiago) du pays. Lieu : Cuba Intervention : Au milieu des années 1990, on a élaboré par un effort concerté un programme d'études global (menant à la maîtrise et à divers diplômes) qui appliquait des méthodes d'enseignement interactives. On a mis ce programme à exécutio