Context:
Globally, violence has been increasingly recognized as a significant public health issue, affecting individuals, families, and communities at large. The World Health Organization (WHO)1 and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)2 have published reports on understanding violence as a contagious and epidemic health problem. With the rate of violent deaths in CARICOM Member States is almost three times the global average (Caribbean Firearm Study, 2023). Additionally, based on statistics collected across CARICOM Member States between 2019-2021, more than fifty per cent (50%) of homicides involved the use of firearms.
The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) has recognised the importance of the public health approach to violence in this region, including the interconnectedness of public health and law enforcement responses to illegal firearms and violence. Since 2023, CARPHA has sustained its collaboration with CARICOM IMPACS, The George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre (GA-CDRC), and Small Arms Survey (SAS) to advance work on a project titled 'Pathway to Policy: Integrating Security and Public Health Responses to Firearms Trafficking and Violence in the Caribbean.' Expanding on the conclusions, recommendations and regional alliances generated to produce the CARICOM-IMPACS-SAS-Caribbean-Firearms-Study.pdf, this project focuses on improving the quality and availability of relevant data and analysis of issues of firearm proliferation by fostering partnerships and actively involving regional security, public health, and research stakeholders.
Overall Objective/Impact:
Relevant actors better integrate the security and public health responses to firearms trafficking and violence in the Caribbean, thereby creating a pathway to evidence-based policy.
Project Overview:
The landmark Caribbean Firearms Study, published in 2023 and jointly developed by the Small Arms Survey and the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), underscored the need for a multi-sectoral approach to prevent and reduce the intertwined threats of firearms trafficking and gun violence. It showed that the participation of the public health sector in efforts to prevent and reduce firearms trafficking and misuse is particularly important, given its role of first responder where incidents of gun crime occur. It has also highlighted the benefits that a data-centered and preventative 'public health approach' can bring to regional efforts to reduce firearms-related violence, as recently stressed by the region's Heads of State, in order to complement the work of law enforcement agencies. Building upon the findings, recommendations, and regional network established to produce the Caribbean Firearms Study, the Small Arms Survey, CARICOM IMPACS, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the University of the West Indies - Georges Alleyne Chronic Disease Center (GA-CDRC) have decided to collaborate in a new project titled ‘Pathway to policy: Integrating security and public health responses to firearms trafficking and violence in the Caribbean’ with a twofold objective:
- to enhance the availability and quality of relevant and timely data and analysis on matters of firearms proliferation and misuse in the Caribbean;
- to further engage regional security, public health and research stakeholders through regional knowledge sharing and policy prioritization.