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.
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.
Authors: Robert B Tate; Niurys Fernandez; Annalee Yassi; Mayilee Canizares; Jerry Spiegel; Mariano Bonet Journal: Health Promot Int Date: 2003-12 Impact factor: 2.483
Authors: Margot W Parkes; Jerry Spiegel; Jaime Breilh; Fabio Cabarcas; Robert Huish; Annalee Yassi Journal: Bull World Health Organ Date: 2009-04 Impact factor: 9.408
Authors: Jerry Spiegel; Milagros Alegret; Veronic Clair; Nino Pagliccia; Barbara Martinez; Mariano Bonet; Annalee Yassi Journal: Int J Public Health Date: 2011-08-16 Impact factor: 3.380