WHY A REGIONAL PUBLIC GOODS APPROACH

There is a long history in the Caribbean of developing RPGs in the health sector, although this might not have been recognized as such at the time. The creation of the regional health institutions (RHI) in the Caribbean since the early 1960’s has been quoted in the international health literature as a model for value added RPGs. With the consolidation of five RHIs into the premier public health agency, Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the region stands to benefit from more than the cumulative returns on the investment by Caribbean countries.

Member States (MS) in the CARICOM share several similar health and development challenges which can be addressed more effectively and efficiently through functional cooperation and joint/collective action. RPGs respond to demand from MS and while they are produced and used primarily by the public sector, they can also benefit civil society and private sector in countries, a feature aligned with the whole of society approach which is being employed increasingly to address current health and development challenges.

For the Caribbean, like in most Small Island Developing States (SIDS), RPGs are vital, providing as they do, the goods and services that require technical and financial resources not available in the individual countries. The RPGs complement and provide critical inputs or add value to the national interventions, and countries make greater gains than they would have if acting individually, or at minimum, achieve the gains at lower cost as a result of the economies of scale.

• In CCH-IV, potential RPGs to be achieved include, but are not limited to:
• regional standards, regulations and guidelines which countries commit to use
• common training programs or quality assurance approaches common approaches
• to addressing international challenges to public health
• research and development on healthy products
• evaluation research on which health systems/programs are most effective
• models that address the peculiarities of the Region and could be adopted by countries with minimal adaptation shared policy frameworks