York historian lectures on child malnutrition in the Caribbean
Dr Henrice Altink presents her research at the 50th Annual ACH Conference.
On 13 June, Dr Henrice Altink presented a paper entitled ‘Linking the global and the local: Tackling child malnutrition in the post-independent Anglophone Caribbean’ at the 50th anniversary conference of the Association of Caribbean Historians in Barbados. Running from 10-14 June, the conference reflected on the theme 'Continuity, Change and Challenge', and considered the past and future development of the organisation.
Henrice's paper focused mainly on Jamaica, and explored how child malnutrition was measured and analysed as well as the various proposals put forward and implemented to reduce it in the two decades following independence. She demonstrated that over time, both the problem of child malnutrition and the solutions proposed became increasingly localised – greater attention was being paid to the socio-economic and cultural context of pre-school children and their families. This shift was facilitated by both global and local factors, ranging from the involvement of UN agencies in the region and the oil crisis of the 1970s to a desire to give expression to independence and local IMF structural adjustment policies.
Henrice also gave an interview to UWI TV on the history of public health in the Caribbean.