• To train animal health and veterinary public health technicians to augment the pool of veterinary expertise in the region.

• To support the livestock production initiatives in the region by providing quality training.

• To conduct short term training as demanded by the region’s agricultural sector.

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As a series of country and regional discussions and planning for programs to increase meat and milk supplies in the Caribbean were taking place, it became increasingly clear that a serious shortage of veterinary manpower/technicians to compliment the veterinarians existed. Young people from the Caribbean, educated in this field in Europe and North America usually elected to remain in those countries to pursue lucrative careers. In addition, the numbers of places available to students from the Caribbean for overseas veterinary training were steadily dwindling.

At the IV Inter-American Meeting on Foot and Mouth Disease and Zoonoses Control (Lima, Peru 1971), the Ministries of Agriculture of the Hemisphere resolved unanimously to urge Governments to evaluate veterinary manpower resources and to proceed with training programs for animal health assistants. The resolution marked the conception of REPAHA. Subsequent resolutions and agreements resulted in REPAHA opening its doors in 1975 thus becoming the first regional middle level training institution in the Caribbean. The institution offered a diploma in Animal Health and Veterinary Public Health.

Similar resolutions followed at the V and VI Inter American Meetings in Mexico (1972) and Columbia (1973). After the Columbia Meeting, Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHA/WHO) with financial assistance from United Nations Development Program (UNDP) assembled a feasibility team which toured several countries of the region during the 1973 gathering information about the status of veterinary manpower needs. Further impetus was given the project by the 1972 meeting in Chile to consider the ten year health plan for the America and by the 1972 Caribbean Health Ministers Conference in Guyana.

In February 1974, the first Intra-Caribbean Conference on Education and Training of Animal Health Assistants considered the PAHA/WHO study and decided to establish the "REPAHA" center in Guyana. The target date for opening was set for September 1974 but because of organizational problems was postponed to September 1975. Documents to confirm the agreement among the member countries were circulated for approval. In January 1975, the Government of Guyana negotiated a loan from the World Bank for the building of permanent structures to house the center. Funding for technical assistance was pledged by UNDP with PAHO/WHO being the executing agency.

From its beginning up to the 1977-1978 Academic year, temporary facilities had been provided for by the University of Guyana, Guyana School of Agriculture and the Ministries of Agriculture and Health of Guyana. As from the1978-1979 academic year, REPAHA began functioning in its new facilities on 40 acres of land located at Mon Repos which were provided by the Government of Guyana.

REPAHA began as a co-operative effort among UNDP, PAHO, CIDA (Canada International Development Fund), CFTC (Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC), European Development Fund (EDF) and seventeen (17) Caribbean Governments. Participating Governments included: Anguilla, Antigua, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Saint Lucia, St. Christopher & Nevis, St. Vincent, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago. Phase I of the REPAHA project came to a successful conclusion on December 31^st 1980. Phase II began on January 1, 1981 and ended December 31^st, 1984. PAHO was the executing agency until the 31^st December 1985 when that organization’s role ended and the tenth meeting of the Standing Committee of Ministers responsible for Agriculture (SCMA), in June 1987, agreed inter alia that the CARICOM Secretariat should function as the institution’s executing agency up to 1988. The Tenth Meeting of the Regional Advisory Board held in Georgetown on September 9-10, 1987 recommended that the CARICOM Secretariat be requested to be the Executing Agency for REPAHA as a Project after July,1988. Consequently, REPAHA officially became a project of the CARICOM Secretariat on March 1, 1988.

Since its inception in 1975, four hundred and sixty-seven (467) Animal Health and Veterinary Public Health Assistants have graduated from REPAHA, representing nineteen countries and territories. These graduates have performed very satisfactorily under field conditions in their respective countries.

From September 1992, the curriculum of the training program was re-structured to offer two diploma courses – one in Animal Health and Veterinary Public Health and the other in Livestock Production and Management. These share a common first year program and streaming is effected during the second year. The program further provides for holders of a diploma in Animal Health and Veterinary Public Health or Livestock Production and Management to join any of the two streams during the second year. The Livestock Production and Management option is intended to train staff for development as Ranch/Farm Managers or Administrators/mangers of livestock projects.

To this moment, REPAHA continues to serve the Caribbean in the Agriculture and Health Sectors.

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