The Caribbean Health Policy and Governance network (CHPG) brings together researchers, healthcare professionals, policymakers, and students who share an interest in how health systems function and evolve across Caribbean contexts. The network focuses on the governance, organisation, and everyday practice of health systems in island settings; with particular emphasis on the importance of scale, (social) geography, historical institutionalism, and decoloniality.
Our work is grounded in collaboration with key actors across the region. Rather than approaching Caribbean health systems as sites of implementation, the network seeks to understand how policy questions emerge locally and how knowledge can be produced in dignified ways that are meaningful for those working within these systems. Particular attention is given to regional cooperation, the sustainability of health services, and the governance challenges that arise in small and interconnected systems facing social, economic, and environmental change.
Our Mission
The mission of CHPG is to support the development of well-functioning and sustainable health systems in the Caribbean through the exchange and co-production of knowledge on health policy and governance. The network aims to strengthen dialogue between research, policy, and practice by creating spaces where different forms of expertise can inform one another.
Our activities are locally embedded and shaped through collaboration with key health system actors in the region. Collaboration is organised around reciprocity and long-term caring engagement, with an emphasis on strengthening research capacity and supporting locally relevant policy learning. In this way, the network contributes to knowledge development that is both analytically rigorous and practically grounded.
What We Do
The network supports evidence-informed policymaking by facilitating dialogue between researchers, practitioners and decision-makers. This includes organising stakeholder exchanges, policy dialogues and priority-setting activities that help translate research findings into forms that are usable in policy and organisational contexts. The emphasis lies on sustaining relationships through which knowledge can circulate beyond individual projects.
CHPG conducts rapid policy analyses in response to emerging policy questions. These analyses aim to provide timely and context-sensitive insights that assist decision-makers in navigating governance challenges, particularly where systems operate under conditions of limited scale, constrained resources or institutional complexity.
Capacity building is approached as a mutual process of learning. The network organises training activities, workshops and educational exchanges that connect health professionals, policymakers and students across the Caribbean and Europe. Special attention is given to supporting early-career researchers and students from the region who wish to engage in health policy and systems research, including pathways towards doctoral research.
A central component of the network is the conduct of long-term and in-depth research on health systems and governance practices. Research approaches include qualitative, ethnographic and mixed-methods designs that allow for a detailed understanding of how policies are shaped and enacted in everyday practice. This work contributes to broader academic debates on health systems resilience, governance in small-scale settings and the organisation of care in island contexts.
Portfolio
Over recent years, the network has contributed to research and policy-oriented work across a range of themes, including prevention and lifestyle interventions, regional health system collaboration, hospital sustainability in island settings, healthcare quality improvement, and the organisation of elderly care.
Other areas of work include health research system mapping, hospital governance and professional autonomy, crisis organisation and preparedness, and the study of health systems resilience in Caribbean and island contexts.
These projects reflect a shared interest in understanding how health systems adapt to changing social and environmental conditions while maintaining continuity of care.
Team
- Robert Borst – founding director, Governance
- Eline Linthorst – Health Justice
- Caroline Bulstra – Climate and Sustainability
- Soraya Verstraeten – Prevention and Population Health
Contact us
For more information about Caribbean Health Policy and Governance Network (CHPG), membership inquiries, or collaboration opportunities, please contact us at caribbean@eshpm.eur.nl.
Partners
