On August, 30th @ 10 am Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and Cure Violence will participate in the Caribbean focused webinar series, Our Health is Our Culture. The series is designed to engage anyone interested in health, in dialogue about the pressing issues affecting health and well-being in the Caribbean. The series highlights the opportunities and challenges faced in the Caribbean to create a Culture of Health; A Caribbean where everyone deserves to live in healthy communities where they can safely live, work, learn, play, and prosper.
The upcoming webinar, entitled “Restoring Paradise: The Cure to Violence” will present the latest violence data across the region, as well as present a case study of the Cure Violence prevention and intervention model.
The recent Inter-American Development Bank’s report “Restoring Paradise in the Caribbean,” noted that while crime data varied across countries, there was an overall high level of violent crime impacting the region.
The report addresses several factors associated with violent crime; Youth, Violence against women and children, Neighborhood characteristics, Gangs, guns, and the police and Criminal justice systems.
Anecdotally, in recent years social media posts, youtube videos, mobile messages, and voice notes, have included stories of pain, suffering, condemnation, warning, and hope. In response, the discussion about violence and crime across the region has been alive, and citizens are demanding accountability and intervention. The IADB report provides meaningful, actionable data to governments, the private sector, and community members to quantify the severity of the situation and guide the actions taken in response. It highlighted that crime and violence in the Caribbean cost governments approximately 3% of GDP. This cost is significant, negatively impacting businesses, economic growth, tourism arrivals, emigration, and life satisfaction. The region and its partners must take action.
This webinar is not the first, and will not be the last on this topic, but rather another important contribution to the development of an outcome driven path forward. A path to restoring paradise.
