Faced with a serious shortage of nurses in the public health system, President Irfaan Ali on Wednesday announced that government was turning to Cuba for an emergency supply of that category of health workers while Guyana accelerates the training of surplus nurses. “We are in discussion now, for example, with Cuba,” he said, adding that ...

The Caribbean Heart Institute’s (CHI) team led by CEO and Guyanese born heart surgeon Dr. Gary Stephens, successfully conducted an open-heart surgery utilising cow tissue to reconstruct a patient’s heart, the institution said Tuesday. “This procedure is the first-ever open heart surgery of its kind, to be performed in the country,” CHI added. CHI explained ...

Guyana is still awaiting a reply from the United States Department of Agriculture to several submissions aimed at having that North American country lift an almost six-year old ban on catfish, according to Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha. With Guyana having recently updated its previous submission, he said the Ministry of Agriculture was awaiting word from ...

Cigna Group's Express Scripts pharmacy benefits unit will add three biosimilar versions of AbbVie's blockbuster arthritis treatment Humira to its list of preferred drugs, the company said on Monday. Reuters Health Information

Mobilising for 2025 – A Caribbean Civil Society NCD Forum

July 6-7, 2023
Courtyard Marriott Hotel | Bridgetown, Barbados

Background

This meeting: Mobilising for 2025 – A Caribbean Civil Society NCD Forum represents a reconvening of face to face meetings of HCC member organisations and partners. The aim of the Forum is to bring together HCC member civil society organisations (CSOs) and key stakeholders to discuss NCD (including Mental, Neurological and Substance Abuse Disorders – MNSDs)[1] prevention and control priorities in the Caribbean as we reflect on where we are including current  progress and challenges and map a path forward to place the region back on track to meet SDG NCD Target 3.4: Noncommunicable diseases and mental health: By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.

Much work is needed as the most recent 2022 NCD Progress Monitor showed the Caribbean was significantly off track across most areas including risk factor interventions (WHO Best Buys and Recommended Interventions) and treatment indicators (management guidelines and drug therapies).  As a result, the NCD-related health and socioeconomic toll on our fragile economies continues to rise as we face the interconnected challenges of, climate change and food insecurity, exacerbated in our Small Island Developing States (SIDS) settings. From June 14-16, high-level officials from across the SIDS will convene in Barbados for the SIDS Ministerial Conference on NCDs and Mental Health where they will unite in their endorsement of what is anticipated to a be a bold action-oriented Political Outcome Document which recognizes the key health and development threats of NCDs, commercial determinants and climate change and presents concrete actions to tackle these threats as a SIDS community through a highly anticipated SIDS NCDs Roadmap.

The diverse array of civil society actors impacted by NCDs – including those representing: all chronic diseases, key groups such as people living with NCDs (PWLNCDs), young people, related lived experiences, climate change, food systems, and academia – have and continue to play a critical role in driving and supporting rights-based, equitable, evidence-informed NCD responses across the region.

The post Mobilising for 2025 – A Caribbean Civil Society NCD Forum appeared first on Healthy Caribbean Coalition.

India's Biocon Biologics said on Monday it has launched a biosimilar version of AbbVie's blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira in the United States. Reuters Health Information

The generic drug unit of Germany's Fresenius said on Monday the price for Idacio, its copycat version of Abbvie's top-selling rheumatoid arthritis drug, will be at a 5% discount to Humira's list price. Reuters Health Information

The Guyana Police Force (GPF) on Tuesday indicated it had halted all investigations into a 16-year old girl’s allegation that Local Government Minister Nigel Dharamlall raped her at his residence last December. According to the law enforcement agency, that decision was based on advice by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) after the girl last ...

Thirty-four persons of Amerindian descent as well as several activists of the women’s rights organisation, Red Thread, on Tuesday demanded broad-based health, legal and financial support for the 16-year old girl who alleged that she was raped by Local Government Minister Nigel Dharamlall. “Apolitical coordination of support for the child, with Indigenous groups and communities ...

Accelerating the Removal of Ultra-Processed Products From Caribbean Schools – The Food in Our Schools Matters

July 4-5, 2023
Courtyard Marriott Hotel | Bridgetown, Barbados

This meeting: Accelerating the removal of ultra-processed products from Caribbean schools represents a reconvening of face-to-face meetings of Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) member organisations and partners. The aim of the meeting is to support harmonised regional acceleration of robust evidence-informed policies which regulate the availability and marketing of ultra-processed products in school settings, by bringing together diverse stakeholders, including those from government, civil society and academia.  This meeting precedes a second meeting hosted by the HCC immediately following on July 6-7, 2023. The second meeting: Mobilising for 2025 – A Caribbean Civil Society NCD Forum aims to bring together HCC member civil society organisations (CSOs) and key stakeholders to discuss non-communicable disease (NCD) (including mental, neurological and substance use disorders – MNSDs)[1] prevention and control priorities.

The Caribbean has some of the highest adult obesity rates in the world and an emerging crisis of overweight and obesity is facing up to 1 in 3 children in the region[2]. Childhood overweight and obesity not only are associated with serious complications in childhood and adolescence, but they also track into adulthood, placing individuals at higher risk for NCDs. Like many other small developing states and low- and middle-income countries, the Caribbean region has experienced a nutritional transition driven by globalisation and trade liberalisation, resulting in a culture of diets characterized by excess consumption of ultra-processed foods high in fat, salt and sugar fueling skyrocketing rates of obesity and diet-related NCDs.  Children from this region consume more sugar-sweetened beverages than anywhere in the world and more than triple the global average. Dramatic increases in overweight and obesity in recent decades has been driven by overconsumption of ultra-processed foods high in sugars, fats and salt.  In response, there is an increasing momentum across the region towards the implementation of policies which restrict or altogether ban the availability of unhealthy foods and beverages in schools.

The post Accelerating the Removal of Ultra-Processed Products from Caribbean Schools appeared first on Healthy Caribbean Coalition.