Sir Kenneth Standard, professor emeritus in the Department of Community Health at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus, died Monday night. He was 83.

Sir Kenneth, who was born in Barbados, has been lauded over the years for his contributions to community health.

He was made a Commander of the Order of Distinction by the government of Jamaica, and his work was recognised by the Medical Association of Jamaica, the Norman Washington Manley Foundation, the Caribbean Public Health Association, and the Caribbean Commonwealth Medical Research Council. Internationally, his worth was recognised by the World Health Organisation, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and in 1982, on the recommendation of the Government of Barbados, the queen conferred on him the Order of Knight Bachelor. In celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2002, the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) named Sir Kenneth Standard one of 11 Public Health Heroes of the Americas in recognition of his pioneering work in public health.

He died leaving his wife of 50 years, the former Evelyn Francis, and their daughter Dr Aileen Standard-Goldson, a medical officer in the University Health Centre at Mona.

"The university recognises Professor Emeritus Sir Kenneth Standard as one of the icons in the field of medicine in the Caribbean," said vice-chancellor Rex Nettleford yesterday.
"The institution will always be grateful for the tremendous contribution that he has made to community medicine throughout the region. He is an alumnus that makes us proud, and as we celebrate this magnificent life, we thank his family for sharing him with us for over a half-a-century. His name will rank high in the annals of the University of the West Indies."

Over the years, Sir Kenneth was:

. a former headmaster and former lay preacher in the Methodist church in his native Barbados;

. one of the now-famous "first 33 students" when the University College of the West Indies opened its doors in 1948 with a faculty of medicine;

. the first from the group of 33 to obtain the degree of doctor of medicine, with a thesis on the importance of nutrition in the children of rural St Elizabeth in Jamaica;

. one of the first five UWI graduates to become a Milbank Fellow, a scholarship awarded by a wealthy American who had established the Milbank Foundation.

"After meeting with a former Milbank Scholar who was doing ground-breaking work in the slums of New York, he returned to UWI fired up to start a similar project in August Town, where he started the Health Aides programme, with a group of interested citizens who received a short training course conducted by volunteer doctors and nurses on the Mona Campus," said Nettleford. "He prepared The Community Health Aide Book, which is still regarded as the 'bible' for Social and Preventive Medicine."

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