The NCD Alliance led Global Week for Action on NCDs took place during the week 5-11 September 2022 under the theme Invest to Protect.

The annual Global Week for Action on NCDs seeks to ensure NCD prevention and management get the attention and action they deserve, everywhere, for everyone.

In 2022, we are bridging the NCD Investment gap. This year is all about prioritising the urgent need for increased NCD financing to prevent and treat NCDs and build resilient health systems that leave no one behind.

Voices for change: Check out the new series of ‘vox pop’ short videos for the Global Week for Action on NCDs, 5-11 September. They feature a range of voices from the global NCD community.

“In Barbados we are investing to protect our children, our health systems and our economy. We invite other world governments to join us,” says Hon. G.P. Ian Gooding-Edghill, Minister of Health and Wellness.

Here are some of HCC and HCY’s contributions to the Global Week of Action on NCDs 2022.

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure

Investing in Non Communicable Disease (NCD) Prevention and Control in the Caribbean to Protect Our Future

An Ounce of Prevention is worth a Pound of Cure: Investing in Non Communicable Disease (NCD) Prevention and Control in the Caribbean to Protect Our Future, by Dr. Kimberly-Ann Gittens-Baynes.

During the Global Week for Action on NCDs— 5th to 11th September 2022, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) along with civil society organizations around the world seek “to ensure NCD prevention and care get the attention and action they deserve, everywhere, for everyone”. This year, the campaign’s theme is “Invest to protect” and highlights the need for increased and urgent investment in NCDs. This blog is written in support of this initiative. Read more

Health Policy Victory Is Sweet in Barbados

Sugary drinks are a major driver of the global epidemic of chronic conditions like obesity and diabetes. One way to keep consumption under control is through fiscal policies like taxes on these health harming beverages. Francine Charles from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Barbados was at the frontline of the effort to move the Barbados sugary drinks tax increase forward. In this interview, she explains how they did it and how they are now working to see the implementation of diverse healthy food policies to reduce chronic disease and build a healthier population.

Listen here

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THE MINISTRY of Health and Wellness is inviting members of the public to actively participate in Prostate Cancer Awareness Month by wearing blue on Friday, September 23, which has been designated as Blue Day. Non-communicable diseases (NCD) risk...

Government is willing to do all in its power to ensure that Barbadians have access to pharmaceuticals and medical services at an affordable cost to control the rising incidence of non-communicable diseases on the island.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley, speaking during Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a $12 million, 24-hour, urgent care centre at Bayview Hospital expressed the hope that a sensible solution could be reached without going the route of price controls.

She stated: “This government is prepared to take action now to protect us and our consumers in the area of medical services because we believe that it is not only the supermarket or it is not only at the gas station that we seek to control prices, but also in the delivery of services across the entire spectrum.”

“I say so, conscious that as I have met with the private sector to deal with food costs and to ask them to cap their mark-ups between 15 and 20 per cent that regrettably in the area of pharmaceuticals, we continue to face markups in this country that are prohibitive and unacceptable especially in this environment within which we are functioning.”

The Prime Minister pointed out that industry stakeholders also had a duty to ensure that they don’t price themselves “out of people’s reach especially at this particular time” noting that she hoped that the sense of volunteerism that characterised the social partnership and the “way we do things,” would also guide this process.

Mottley said that the social cost of keeping the prices as they are currently, is a situation that should not continue, given the challenges with the high prevalence of non-communicable diseases.

The Prime Minister maintained that citizens must not stay at home instead of seeking medical care on account of the high costs involved. Mottley also shared that ongoing work with the World Health Organization to map out an affordable national health insurance scheme would continue with a decision expected sometime next year.

The post More affordable pharmaceuticals appeared first on Barbados Today.

Entries for Massy Group’s first Art Competition in support of suicide prevention and mental health awareness close today, September 10, World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD), the company said. Over the next four weeks, Massy and the E.R Burrowes School of Art will judge the entries and the winners will be announced on World Mental Health ...

CAMPAIGN AT A GLANCE

On September 7th 2022, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) in partnership with regional and national partners launched a digital campaign titled #ActOnFacts: The Food in Our Schools Matters, to encourage public and policymaker support for policies that limit the sale and marketing of unhealthy foods and drinks in and around schools, while increasing the availability of nutritious foods, healthier snacks and drinking water.

The regional campaign features the slogan Policy can make a difference, to highlight the powerful role policy plays in shaping school food environments.

#ActOnFacts will run from September 7th to October 16th, 2022, across social and digital media platforms in CARICOM Member States, and is part of wider regional multi-sectoral, multi-stakeholder advocacy and communication efforts to promote healthy food environments for children.

Read/download the press release here.

Jump to the campaign resources.

OUR PARTNERS

WHY THIS CAMPAIGN?

The health of our region is the wealth of our region. We need to invest in prevention policies which target our most precious resource – our children
Sir Trevor Hassell, President, Healthy Caribbean Coalition

With one in three Caribbean children living with overweight and obesity, the region is on a dangerous trajectory towards a future with an even greater non-communicable disease (NCD) burden. NCDs such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer remain the leading causes of premature death in the Caribbean, and children living with overweight and obesity are more likely to develop NCDs at a younger age. Unhealthy diets dominated by ultra-processed foods (UPFs) high in sugar, fats and salt are the primary cause of childhood obesity and its related NCDs.

Early childhood is a critical time for obesity prevention, as eating habits established when young can last a lifetime. Children spend much of their time in school, yet across the Caribbean region, food and beverage offerings in schools largely consist of unhealthy, ultra-processed foods such as sweet drinks, cookies and other ‘junk foods’.

Our children deserve better. School food environments should promote good health and nutrition, and support students in making healthy food choices.

WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO ACHIEVE?

The Food In Our Schools Matters calls on governments to #ActOnFacts and implement strong school nutrition policies that allow and encourage children and the school community to make healthier food choices.

Addressing unhealthy food environments – and by extension childhood obesity – requires bold legislative actions, to not only increase access to nutritious foods, healthier snacks and drinking water, but limit the sale and marketing of unhealthy foods and drinks in schools.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Governments and Policymakers: Invest in evidence based prevention policies. Allocate adequate budgets to support, implement, monitor and enforce school nutrition policies that include regulating the sale and marketing of unhealthy foods and drinks in schools, while increasing access to nutritious foods, healthier snacks and drinking water. These policies have been endorsed by CARICOM Heads of Government and recommended by WHO/PAHO, CARPHA, UNICEF, HCC, Ministries of Health and other key stakeholders.

HCC has launched three new publications focused on Regulating the Availability and Marketing of Unhealthy Beverages and Food Products in and around Schools in the Caribbean, you can access the summary here or all three publications here.

Parents and caregivers: Share the campaign materials with your networks. Recognise that policy plays a powerful role in creating environments that make the healthier choice, the easy choice. Talk to your child’s school administrators and your local policymakers in Ministries of Education and Health, about the need for strong, nutrition policies that allow and encourage children and the school community to make healthier food choices. Our children deserve better from schools.

CAMPAIGN RESOURCES

The campaign uses largely monochrome imagery: playing on the concept that the link between our children’s health and diet is simply ‘black and white’.

We encourage you to share the campaign materials in your networks, please contact us to gain access to the hi-res, different sized images for sharing.

Social Media Cards

Video

Webinar

On Wednesday October 5th, 2022 the Healthy Caribbean Coalition and it’s partners hosted a webinar entitled #ActOnFacts – The Food In Our Schools Matter.
In this webinar distinguished panellists and speakers discuss lessons learned around the implementation of healthy school policies across the Caribbean, and share a new resource to assist CARICOM countries in harmonising healthy school policy regulation.

Other Resources

Civil Society action Plan 2017-2021: Preventing Childhood Obesity in the Caribbean
Read/Download

Civil Society Policy Brief: Priority Nutrition Policies for Healthy Children in the Caribbean
Read/Download

Healthy Caribbean Coalition’s Childhood Obesity Prevention (COP) Portal
Read more

Report – Regulating the Availability and Marketing of Unhealthy Beverages and Food Products in and around Schools in the Caribbean Read/download

Model Policy and Legislative Guidance for Regulating the Availability and Marketing of Unhealthy Beverages and Food Products in and around Schools in the Caribbean Read/download

Summary – Policy and Legislative Guidance for Regulating the Availability and Marketing of Unhealthy Beverages and Food Products in and around Schools in the Caribbean Read/download

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During the Global Week for Action on NCDs— 5th to 11th September 2022, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) along with civil society organizations around the world seek “to ensure NCD prevention and care get the attention and action they deserve, everywhere, for everyone”. This year, the campaign’s theme is “Invest to protect” and highlights the need for increased and urgent investment in NCDs. This blog is written in support of this initiative.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) were the major cause of death and disability in the Caribbean and during the pandemic, the high prevalence of NCDs became an accelerant of the health and economic impacts of COVID-19. As Caribbean countries engage in post-pandemic economic recovery, the continued health and economic costs of the NCDs cannot be sidestepped. To treat with the NCD epidemic successfully, measures that prevent, manage and control NCDs are needed which represent a long-term investment in population health (1). While governments in the region have taken action to mitigate against the impact of NCDs, the human and economic costs of continue to accumulate. There is some evidence to suggest that the bottlenecks observed with regard to prevention and control interventions have occurred due to implementation challenges with funding/financing being identified as a significant implementation barrier (2).

Even within the context of the valid arguments of limited donor funding and shrinking fiscal space, not adequately investing in NCD prevention and control is a Catch-22 situation. If countries do not adequately invest in NCD prevention and control, the health and economic costs of NCDs will continue to rise, accelerated by population ageing and the childhood obesity epidemic, placing countries in an even more precarious economic position over time.

Investing in prevention and control of NCDs can be cost effective, the WHO “NCD Best Buys”(3) have been shown to both reduce the health impacts of NCDs and provide a source of revenue (1). The rate of return of these measures are significant with the rate of return per US$1 invested being approximately US$12 for healthy diet interventions, US$7 for tobacco and US$8 for alcohol interventions (1). For two Caribbean countries, Barbados and Jamaica, the investment case for NCDs has been shown to be a viable one. According to a 2017 Barbados study, scaling up spending on prevention and treatment spending in the amount of BD$38 million (US$19 million) over a 5 year period and maintaining treatment coverage, would result in a BD$580 million (US$290 million) in increased productivity over a 15-year period (2015-2030) due to the health gains of reduced mortality and morbidity (3). There were similar findings for Jamaica where an investment in scaling up selected prevention and control measures along with alcohol and tobacco polices of J$37.8 billion (USD 297.5 million), over the 15-year period (2017-2032) yielded total economic benefits of J$81.3 billion (US$640 million) (5). It is clear in both cases that the returns on the investment outweigh the costs of investing in prevention and control.

As part of the package of best buy measures, fiscal policy is a viable tool Caribbean countries can utilise to finance NCD prevention and control. La Foucade et al (2018) found that if excise taxes on alcohol (beer and rum) and cigarettes were increased to recommended levels, the gain in revenue for the 15 CARICOM countries in the study would be an estimated US$86.3 million. This revenue would exceed the estimated cost of the NCD response in those countries by an estimated US$33.7 million (6). In this regard, Bermuda’s Sugar Sweetened Beverage (SSB) taxation was found not only to reduce consumption of taxed products but revenue from this measure for the thirteen month period (October 2018 to December 2019) amounted to US$5.4M (7).

A strong political commitment to population health is necessary to avoid implementation bottlenecks particularly where measures may yield long-term rewards but may be unpopular. In the case of Barbados, an SSB tax was implemented in 2015 at a time when it was among a handful of countries to do so. The tax was implemented at a rate of 10% as part of a broader plan to address unhealthy diets in the Barbadian population. Subsequent to its implementation, research showed that while the tax had been successful in reducing SSB consumption there was evidence that a substitution effect existed, some consumers had switched their consumption from higher priced SSBs to lower priced SSBs (8). In April 2022, in line with WHO recommendations on SSB taxation and despite industry opposition, the government of Barbados raised the tax to 20%.

Caribbean countries have also been exploring more efficient and innovative ways of financing health programmes. One such example is Jamaica which has utilised mixed funding to finance the National Health Fund (NHF)(9) . The NHF is funded through national insurance (5% of annual earnings up to $500K collected by the National Insurance Scheme) which provides the largest share of financing, the special consumption tax (20%) and tobacco excise taxes (5%) and (10). Flexibility and innovation will be key requirements to adequately and sustainably fund NCD prevention and control.

NCDs have a long-term impact on population health and economies. By prioritising the investment in NCD prevention and control, countries are ensuring that the health and economic costs of NCDs are reduced as the returns on this investment accrue both now and in the future.

Dr. Kimberly-Ann Gittens-Baynes holds a PhD in Economics and has over seventeen years of experience working in the area of Health Economics in the Caribbean.  Her research over the years has included HIV/AIDS, sexual and domestic violence, poverty and vulnerability.  More recently her research has focused on Non-Communicable Diseases and Economic Policy, Costing of Health Services/Disease Conditions and Health Behaviour and Health-related decision making. She is currently a researcher at the HEU, Centre for Health Economics, The University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago.

References

1. World Health Organization (WHO). Saving lives , spending less: The case for investing in NCDs [Internet]. World Health Organization. 2021 [cited 2022 Sep 1]. Available from: http://apps.who.int/bookorders.
2. Abdulkadri A, Floyd S, Mkrtchyan I, Marajh G, Gonzales C, Cunningham-Myrie C. Addressing the adverse impacts of non-communicable diseases on the sustainable development of Caribbean countries 100 STUDIES AND PERSPECTIVES ECLAC SUBREGIONAL HEADQUARTERS FOR THE CARIBBEAN [Internet]. 2021 [cited 2022 Aug 31]. Available from: www.cepal.org/apps
3. The WHO NCD Best Buys are a package of 16 NCD interventions focused on the major NCD risk factors and the management of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cervical cancer (1)
4. Ministry of Health Barbados World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The Investment Case for Non-communicable Disease Prevention and Control [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2021 Mar 28]. Available from: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/259689
5. Hutchinson Id B, Small R, Acquah K, Sandoval R, Nugent R, Davidson T, et al. The investment case as a mechanism for addressing the NCD burden: Evaluating the NCD institutional context in Jamaica, and the return on investment of select interventions. Jamaica Minist Heal [Internet]. 2019 [cited 2022 Sep 1]; Available from: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223412
6. Foucade A La, Metivier C, Gabriel S, Scott E, Theodore K, Laptiste C. The potential for using alcohol and tobacco taxes to fund prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases in Caribbean Community countries. Rev Panam Salud Pública [Internet]. 2018 [cited 2022 Sep 1];42. Available from: /pmc/articles/PMC6386120/
7. Case KK, Pineda E, Olney J, Segal AB, Sassi F. The ‘sugar tax’ in Bermuda: a mixed methods study of general population and key stakeholder perceptions. BMC Public Heal 2022 221 [Internet]. 2022 Aug 16 [cited 2022 Sep 2];22(1):1–14. Available from: https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-022-13...
8. Alvarado M, Unwin N, Sharp SJ, Hambleton I, Murphy MM, Samuels TA, et al. Assessing the impact of the Barbados sugar-sweetened beverage tax on beverage sales: An observational study. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act [Internet]. 2019 Jan 30 [cited 2021 Mar 28];16(1):13. Available from: https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-019-0776-7
9. The NHF provides access to essential drugs for chronic illnesses for Jamaican residents and the elderly and public information and health promotion activities executed by public and private institutions.
10. National Health Fund. Who we are – The National Health Fund [Internet]. 2022 [cited 2022 Aug 8]. Available from: https://www.nhf.org.jm/about-us/who-we-are

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Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony says Guyana has recorded its first case of monkeypox, and the person is hospitalised in a stable condition while health authorities conduct contact-tracing The man lives in Region Four. He says the man, who is in his 50s and is from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica),  was first suspected at the weekend ...

Guyana Elections Commissioner, Bibi Shadick died on Saturday at her residence in Georgetown, sources said. The sources said Ms Shadick, an Attorney-at-Law,suffered from pulmonary fibrosis. She was 76 years. Her colleague Commissioner, Sase Gunraj was too shocked to react to the news of her passing. A family member told Demerara Waves Online News that about ...

Barbados’ only confirmed case of Monkeypox, a Barbadian man in his twenties, has fully recovered, the Ministry of Health and Wellness said on Monday.

The ministry also disclosed that there have not been any associated cases with this index case which was reported three weeks ago.     

In a statement on July 16,  Minister of Health and Wellness Ian Gooding-Edghill said the man, who had travelled, had sought medical attention at the Winston Scott Polyclinic with symptoms of a progressive rash, body pains and fever within hours of his arrival in Barbados.

The Ministry advised persons who have a travel history and who are experiencing any unexplained rash, swelling of the lymph nodes or who have been in contact with persons with a rash to seek medical attention at their nearest polyclinic.

The ministry disclosed surveillance at the ports of entry has been enhanced as it continues to be on alert for Monkeypox. 

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