Education & Health

Education and Health

ICS focuses on health care disparity and the development of a Diaspora Medical mission Capacity Building Program. ICS promotes the increased transfer of technology to the Caribbean region; ensuring Caribbean-Americans’ equity in health care; and supporting the provision of increased educational opportunities to disadvantaged populations in the Caribbean. To achieve this, ICS established and assist in the continued development of linkage programs between Universities in the United States and the Caribbean.
Our agenda in this program area includes:
•    National Youth Leadership Dialogue
•    National Youth Essay Competition
•    HIV/AIDS Prevention Awareness Seminars
• Development of University Partnership Programs

Special Mention

AGRIBUSINESS DEVELOPMENT LINKAGE PROGRAM

In 1997, ICS, working with the University and Business Technology Summit, organized a study tour of seven land grant (1890) historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to Jamaica. The purpose of the visit was to identify opportunities for these institutions to create training and technology transfer linkages through the Jamaica Agricultural Development Foundation. The nine-member mission, which took place in October, included University of Arkansas, North Carolina, A&T, Alcorn State, University of Maryland at Eastern shore, Langston State, University of the District of Colombia, University of the Virgin Islands and the USDA. The visit provided an opportunity to discuss agricultural interests and training needs with commercial producers and agricultural educators in the country, such as poultry and goat farming, aquaculture, eco-tourism, and the University of the West Indies Biotechnology Center. Over the next two years, ICS provided advice to the newly founded University and Business Technology Council and 1890 HBCUs to establish a consortium to provide ongoing technical assistance in the area of agribusiness in the Caribbean.

Special Mention

HIV/AIDS EDUCATION

ICS organized a Forum on HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean in collaboration with the National Medical Association (NMA) and aired a radio drama to engage in popular outreach on WEAA FM. In 2004, ICS again partnered with NMA to organize a HIV/AIDS Vaccination Awareness Campaign among the Caribbean community as well as in organizing Caribbean American medical community to participate in a Symposium on Health Disparities among Black Men in 2004.

HEALTH SYMPOSIUMS

ICS, in collaboration with the National Medical Association (NMA), the oldest and largest professional association representing 32,000 Black physicians in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, hosted two luncheon symposiums in 1998 and 1999 for CARICOM Ministers of Health. Held during the Pan American Health Organization's annual meeting to honor the ministers, the symposium was attended by more than 75 Ministers of Health, CARICOM health officials and Washington-based health experts (many of them Caribbean-American), and focused on "Future Directions Toward Health Promotion in the Caribbean". In his 1998 keynote address, NMA's president, Dr. Gary C. Dennis, paralleled the disparaging health: status of blacks in the U.S. and the Caribbean. Delegate Shirley Nathan Pulliam also highlighted health programs she initiated as a member of the Maryland State Legislature. Avenues for collaborations among CARICOM members the NMA and ICS were also discussed.