Christopher Laurie is the 2024 recipient of Arnott Cato/City of Bridgetown Credit Union Scholarship.
Every year, the credit union and the Cato Burton Foundation collaborate to grant a scholarship to one Barbadian Master of Public Health (MPH) student to help pay for their tuition.
Laurie, who has collaborated with the Heart and Stroke Foundation and other organizations on the National School Nutrition Policy and other initiatives aimed at the rising number of people with noncommunicable diseases in recent years, stated that he planned to use this year’s scholarship to conduct research on how to strengthen the embryonic nutrition policy in the nation’s schools in order to combat lifestyle illnesses.
“My intended research seeks to both support and evaluate various aspects of this policy, identify implementation gaps, and suggest areas for improvement. Such research is essential if we are to realise our aim of achieving a 50 per cent reduction in new cases of non-communicable diseases by 2023, as highlighted in the 2023 Bridgetown Declaration on non-communicable diseases and mental health.
“It goes without saying that this cannot be achieved without collective action. I must thank the Cato Burton Foundation, as well as COB for facilitating this award to further public health training in Barbados,” he said.
Meanwhile, during the presentation ceremony at the Errol Walrond Clinical Skills Complex on Jemmotts Lane, Dr Heather Harewood, head of the Public Health Group and a lecturer in public health and epidemiology at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill, stated that the scholarship continues to be a welcomed on, as a strong public healthcare system remains the key to a productive and healthy nation.
“The strength of the health system response is predicated upon having a well-trained and agile public health workforce. This requirement was one of the primary reasons for the development of the MPH programme at Cave Hill,” she said.
“A strength of our MPH is the integrated delivery [in] which students are able to benefit from interaction with technical experts from the Ministry of Health, the George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre, as well as other regional and global academic partners, many of whom are adjunct faculty. These opportunities, along with selected field trips and directed activities have equipped our graduates with the needed authentic exposures to enhance their ability to integrate into various workplaces and fields of interest.”
