President of WINDREF, Baroness Howells of St Davids, will host the fourth Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation (WINDREF) dinner on Thursday 22 May in the House of Lords, in the British parliament, to raise funds for the Sport for Health campaign in Grenada.
The campaign was launched in 2011, following the 2010 fundraising WINDREF dinner, to combat diabetes and obesity which cause serious health problems and pose an increasing cost of health care delivery for the country.
Sport for Health is a partnership between WINDREF, the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF), the Department of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, and St George’s University (SGU). It includes a community and school-based intervention, promoting physical activity while paying close attention to the quality of food consumed and the use of tobacco.
Olympic Gold Medallist Kirani James attended the WINDREF dinner in 2010. In a special message, he said that “Obesity is a real concern for our country. I want young Grenadians to achieve their own goals, in which caring for personal fitness and a healthy lifestyle will form an essential part.”
The WINDREF dinner will be attended by the Patron of Sport for Health, former footballer Garth Crooks, Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation, Alexandra Otway-Noel, Grenada’s High Commissioner in the UK, Joslyn Whiteman, the Chancellor of SGU Grenada, Charles R Modica, the holder of Britain’s highest award for valour, Dr Johnson Beharry VC, Grenadian footballer Jason Roberts, and sponsors and supporters of Sport for Health in the UK and Grenada.
Professor Alan Fenwick OBE, Professor of Tropical Parasitology at Imperial College London, will be presented with the Mike Fisher Memorial Award at the dinner. The award is WINDREF’s highest honour and is granted in recognition of an individual’s work in ‘one medicine’. WINDREF conducts applied scientific research for the benefit of the community and health development at local, regional and international levels.
WINDREF celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Its International and UK boards will be meeting in London before the House of Lords dinner.