The Council on Human and Social Development (COHSOD) of the CARICOM Secretariat has announced the establishment of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA). This is likely to result in a merger of the five CARICOM Regional Health Institutions (RHIs) i.e. CHRC, the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC), Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI), Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute (CFNI) and the Caribbean Regional Drug Testing Laboratory (CRDTL). The Agency is scheduled to be launched in January 2010.

CHRC strongly believes that, consistent with the successful models in other jurisdictions, as an institution addressing broad health research issues, it should remain separate from but work closely with CARPHA. However if the current proposal is implemented, it is important to note that all the current core functions of CHRC will reside in the division of CARPHA entitled Research, Evaluation and Policy Development. Consequently, stakeholders will be pleased to know that our critical services such as the hosting of the Annual Scientific Conference, providing Technical Support and Training in Research and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), development of Clinical Guidelines etc. will continue.