The Chronic Disease Research Centre (CDRC) was founded by the School of Clinical Medicine and Research, UWI, Cave Hill Campus, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Government of Barbados, in response to the epidemic of chronic diseases (hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer and their complications) in the Caribbean.
The foundation years (1992 – 1999) were funded by donations raised by appeals and grants through Professor Henry Fraser. Oversight was provided by an Advisory Committee comprising national and UWI stakeholders.
On 1 August 2000, the CDRC was formally incorporated into the trans-national Tropical Medicine Research Institute (TMRI), based out of the Mona Campus, Jamaica. The CDRC reports to the UWI Vice Chancellor through the Director of the TMRI and to the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Graduate Studies and Research. It also maintains a functional collaboration with the School of Clinical Medicine and Research at Cave Hill, Barbados.
Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (CNCDs) are widely recognised as a threat to the development of the Caribbean region, with half or greater shares of national health budgets devoted to treatment of these preventable diseases. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government asserted in their Nassau Declaration of 2001 that "The health of the region is the wealth of the region".
The Edmund Cohen Vascular Research Laboratory of the CDRC was officially opened on March 30th 2004. It co-ordinates Caribbean-wide diagnostic training workshops and collaborates with external agencies to raise quality standards of laboratories in the region.
The CDRC participated in its first 5 year review for the years from 2000 to 2005 as a component of the TMRI in March 2005. The CDRC contributed significantly to the findings of the Caribbean Commission on Health and Development in 2005 headed by Sir George Alleyne, a former director of the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) and current Chancellor of The University of the West Indies (UWI), providing incidence and prevalence data on hypertension, stroke, and diabetic foot amputation in Caribbean populations.
A subsequent CARICOM Summit in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, September 2007, further underlined the determination of the Caribbean region to slow the chronic disease pandemic with the "Declaration of Port-of-Spain: Uniting to stop the epidemic of chronic diseases".
The CDRC operates the Barbados National Registry for Chronic Non-communicable Disease (BNR), national disease surveillance programmes for Stroke (2008), Heart Attack (2009), and Cancer (2010) on behalf of the Ministry of Health, Government of Barbados. The expertise of the CDRC was again recognised and utilised at the Civil society-led conference titled “Healthy Caribbean 2008 – A Wellness Revolution” that arose directly from the Summit, when the CDRC produced a Technical Report of the conference ‘CDRC Healthy Caribbean Report’.
Based in part on CARICOM led international efforts to recognise the impact of CNCDs on national development, the United Nations convened a High level meeting on NCDs in September 2011with participation by Heads of State and Governments focused on systematic efforts to curb CNCDs across the 192 member countries of the UN.
The George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre
A Unit of the Caribbean Institute for Health Research
Phone: (246) 426-6416
Fax: (246) 426-8406
Email: cdrc@cavehill.uwi.edu
© 2016-17 George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre.
All Rights Reserved.
