The School of Public Health's North Carolina Institute for Public Health has announced a collaboration with the University of the West Indies to create the Caribbean Health Leadership Institute, a five-year, $2 million initiative to enhance health leadership and management capacity in the Caribbean.

The program is funded by the Global AIDS Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to address the burden posed by the HIV epidemic in the region. The rate of HIV infection in the Caribbean is the second highest in the world, after Africa, according to United Nations figures.

Dr. Brendan Bain will direct the Institute. Bain is professor of community health at the University of the West Indies, lead coordinator for the University's HIV/AIDS Response Program, and regional director of the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training Network, which works to improve the quality of health care services for people with HIV/AIDS.

 The Caribbean Health Leadership Institute will use onsite and distance learning activities, individual assessment and coaching, team projects, and a competency-based curriculum to help develop leaders who will create positive change in HIV/AIDS programs.

The North Carolina Institute for Public Health will provide consultation and technical assistance to staff at the University of the West Indies to design, conduct and evaluate the program.

Photograph of Dr. Edward Baker

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For more information about this collaboration, contact: Dr. Stephen Orton, director, Office of Executive Education, North Carolina Institute for Public Health, 919-966-8125, orton@email.unc.edu.

School of Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.

N.C. Institute for Public Health contact: Bev Holt, director of marketing, (919) 966-6274 or bjholt@email.unc.edu.