From July 6 to 8, 2025, CARICOM leaders will gather in Jamaica for the 49th CARICOM Heads of Government (HOG) Meeting, under the theme: People, Partnerships, Prosperity: Promoting a Secure and Sustainable Future.

As health-focused civil society organisations across the region, we are compelled to ask – What does a healthy Caribbean look like in CARICOM’s vision of a secure and sustainable future?

• Does it reflect the lived realities of our children, who are growing up in environments flooded with ultra-processed foods and limited access to safe spaces for physical activity?
• Does it account for the voices of our youth, many of whom are navigating mental health challenges with little support and even fewer services?
• Does it prioritise the needs of people living with non-communicable diseases (NCDs)—those who require continuous care but face fragmented systems and financial hardship?
• Does it include persons living with disabilities and our indigenous and rural communities, which have long been underserved and which continue to experience some of the greatest health inequities?

As we prepare for another CARICOM HOG meeting—this time against the backdrop of the 4th UN High-Level Meeting (UNHLM) on the Prevention and Control of NCDs and the Promotion of Mental Health to be held in September 2025—we are reminded of the CARICOM leaders’ vision of a healthy and secure future set almost 18 years ago.

During the 28th CARICOM HOG Meeting in July 2007, regional leaders committed to “full participation in the Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases, to be held in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on 14 September 2007.” That September 2007 meeting led to the landmark Declaration of Port of Spain —a turning point in the global NCD movement. It marked the first time a group of countries took collective action at the highest political level to address NCDs, placing the issue on the international agenda and laying the groundwork for the first UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs in 2011.

Since then, the world has witnessed two more UNHLMs on NCDs, in 2014 and 2018 during which time civil society has advocated fervently to ensure NCDs remain prioritized. This pressure has been captured by key policy wins including the School Nutrition Policy implemented in Barbados and tabled in Jamaica.

Now, in 2025, we are preparing for the 4th UNHLM under the theme, “Equity and Integration: Transforming Lives and Livelihoods through Leadership and Action on Noncommunicable Diseases and the Promotion of Mental Health and Well-being.”

This moment presents a critical opportunity for CARICOM to once again lead from the front, guided by previous commitments and aligned with the Caribbean Cooperation in Health IV and other key Caribbean SIDS-focused Declarations, including the 2023 Bridgetown Declaration on NCDs and Mental Health. Informed by consultations with Member States, the Bridgetown Declaration calls for “double- and triple-duty” actions to tackle NCDs. These include stronger linkages between climate and health agendas, building climate-resilient health systems, institutionalising public participation, protecting policy spaces from Industry interference, and implementing clear, effective policies such as front-of-package warning labelling. These key actions are aligned with the Healthy Caribbean Coalition’s (HCC) Advocacy Priorities for the 4th UNHLM co-developed with HCC member organisations.

The under-addressed issues highlighted in the Declaration and the Advocacy Priorities resource are matters of survival and sustainable, equitable development for Caribbean nations.

Three out of every four Caribbean lives lost are due to preventable and manageable non-communicable diseases. CARICOM leaders must keep the prevention and control of these conditions central to their vision of a secure and sustainable future during discussions at their upcoming meeting.

In the lead up to the 4th UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health and in light of the growing burden of NCDs in the region; we ask CARICOM Heads of Government and State to urgently:

1. Commit to continued leadership on NCD prevention and control and commit to attendance at the 4th UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health (HLM4) on September 25th, 2025 in the official Communiqué emerging from the Forty-Ninth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
2. Support the twelve Caribbean civil-society led advocacy priorities for inclusion in the official Communiqué from the Forty-Ninth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community and in the HLM4 Political Declaration.
3. Support one or more CARICOM Heads of Government or State to have a lead role in at least one of the multi-stakeholder panels at the HLM4.
4. Support the hosting of a high-level side-event on the margins of the HLM4 led by CARICOM Heads of Government and State as was done in past UN HLMs on NCDs.
5. Endorse the inclusion of a representative from a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) representing people living with NCDs and a youth representative in country delegations to the HLM4 in recognition of the whole-of-society response to NCDs.

History will remember whether CARICOM simply echoed past declarations, or delivered bold, lasting action. CARICOM leaders must ensure that the voices and unique needs of people with, and at risk of, NCDs in Caribbean Small Island Developing States are meaningfully represented and addressed at this High-level Meeting.

CARICOM has been globally recognised for its leadership on NCDs. Now is the time to lead again.

Authors:

Dr. Kenneth Connell
President, Healthy Caribbean Coalition

Ms. Danielle Walwyn
Advocacy Officer, Healthy Caribbean Coalition

Ms. Charity Dublin
President, Antigua and Barbuda Diabetes Association

Ms. Kim Simplis Barrow
President, Belize Cancer Society

Dr. Jane Noël
Chair, Grenada National Chronic non Communicable Disease Commission

Ms. Greta Yearwood
Chief Executive Officer, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Barbados

Mrs. Deborah Chen
Executive Director, Heart Foundation of Jamaica

Shannique Bowden
Executive Director, Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network

Ms. Abi Begho
Founder and Director of Program Management, Lake Health and Wellbeing (St. Kitts and Nevis)

Dr. Kedhma Dorh
President, St. Lucia Diabetes and Hypertension Association

Ms. Chelsea Antoine
Healthy Caribbean Youth (Trinidad and Tobago)

The post What Does Health in a Secure and Sustainable Future Look Like? appeared first on Healthy Caribbean Coalition.

On Monday 16th June 2025, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC), in collaboration with Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and Earth Medic Earth Nurse, hosted a regional webinar entitled: Putting People & Health First in Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery. This session drew over 200 registrants and brought together regional stakeholders, the media, experts, and advocates from across sectors to explore critical intersections between climate change, disaster preparedness, and health, with a special focus on ensuring inclusive, people-centered approaches for vulnerable populations, particularly persons living with noncommunicable diseases (PLWNCDs).

The webinar covered the following objectives:

• Explore the intersection of climate change, health emergencies, and NCDs and spotlight actors, experiences, and lessons learned from across the region.
• Explore the HCC Publication – Safeguarding Public Health Nutrition in the Caribbean During Emergencies: Guidelines for Managing Donations from the Commercial Sector.
• Officially launch the “Emergency Preparedness Brochure Series for Persons Living with NCDs (PLWNCDs)”.
• Highlight practical tools and strategies to support the integration of NCD needs into national and regional emergency preparedness, response and recovery and climate adaptation plans.

Presenters and Panellists

Useful Resources

• Safeguarding Public Health Nutrition in the Caribbean During Times of Emergency: Principles for Managing Food, Beverage Finance and In-Kind Donations from the Commercial Sector” can be found via this link: https://www.healthycaribbean.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Safeguarding-Public-Health-Nutrition-in-the-Caribbean-During-Emergencies-Guidelines-for-Managing-Donations-from-the-Commercial-Sector-HCC-November-2024.pdf
• Visit the Young Caribbean Minds Website: https://www.youngcaribbeanminds.com
• What is implementation science and its role in climate adaptation: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(22)00199-1/fulltext
• A webinar presentation on the role of implementation science and climate and health that highlights some of our participatory research in region: https://youtu.be/9NlAOqX0mtY
• Caribbean Research for Action agenda on climate change and health
  • https://earthmedic.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Chapter-1_Extreme-weather-events_Research-for-Action-on-Climate-Change-and-Health-in-the-Caribbean_2024.pdf
  • https://earthmedic.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Chapter-4_Noncommunicable-diseases_Research-for-Action-on-Climate-Change-and-Health-in-the-Caribbean_2024.pdf
• Development of an agenda for research and action on climate change and health in the Caribbean – PMC https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11726121/
• Protecting Caribbean patients diagnosed with cancer from compounding disasters,  Lancet Oncology, May 2024: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(24)00071-8/
• PAHO Virtual Course:  Psychological First Aid (PFA) in disaster management in the Caribbean – Second Edition https://campus.paho.org/en/course/psychological-first-aid-pfa-disaster-management-caribbean-second-edition-2020
• Check out this Caribbean disaster prep video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDn-23xhFQg

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HCC OPEN LETTER
TO CARICOM HEADS OF GOVERNMENT
AT THE 49TH REGULAR MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE OF HEADS OF GOVERNMENT JULY 6-8, 2025, MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA

June 20, 2025

Dear Honourable Heads of Government and State of CARICOM, On the occasion of this, the Forty-Ninth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) calls on you, Caribbean Heads of Government and State, to indicate your commitment to addressing one of our region’s most pressing development issues – noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – by attending the 4th United Nations High-Level Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health (HLM4). The HLM4 will be held on September 25th, 2025 in New York during the 80th Meeting of the UN General Assembly under the theme “Equity and Integration: Transforming Lives and Livelihoods through Leadership and Action on Noncommunicable Diseases and the Promotion of Mental Health and Well-being.”

The HLM4 comes at a critical time when globally and in the Caribbean, rising rates of NCDs – namely cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and mental health conditions – are vastly outpacing prevention and control efforts. Eighteen years ago, CARICOM Member states played an important role in catapulting NCDs onto the global health agenda with the seminal Port of Spain Declaration. This was followed by the 1st UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs in 2011 which was attended by a significant number of CARICOM Heads who declared in a strong, unified voice that the prevention and control of NCDs was of the highest priority for the region. Almost 20 years after the 1st UN High-Level Meeting, progress in NCD prevention and control is uneven and the 2024 Port of Spain Grid and the 2025 WHO Progress Monitor both reflect a region grossly off track to meet critical regional and global NCD targets including the Sustainable Development Goal 3.4. NCDs are the leading cause of premature deaths in the Caribbean where 40% of NCD deaths occur prematurely before the age of 70 years. As unnecessary death and disability continue to rise, so do the associated costs of preventing and controlling these diseases which place a significant burden on the limited economic resources of CARICOM States – a crisis worsened by the impact of food and nutrition insecurity and climate-related disasters. Within the context of aging and contracting populations and increasing economic and climate vulnerabilities, bold action on NCDs focusing equally on prevention and treatment and care is critical to promoting a secure and sustainable future for the Caribbean.

In 2018, in lead up to the 3rd UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health, at the Thirty-Ninth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, CARICOM Heads endorsed regional NCD advocacy priorities and commended civil society organisations for their efforts in NCD prevention and control. CARICOM Heads then went on to host a highly successful side-event on the day of the HLM3 attended by the Director General of the WHO and the Secretary General of CARICOM.

At this 4th UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health; in recognition of the continuing and untenable socioeconomic burden of NCDs in the region; and CARICOM’s legacy of leadership; we, the 85+ members of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition ask CARICOM Heads of Government and State to:

1. Commit to continued leadership on NCD prevention and control and commit to attendance at the 4th UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health (HLM4) on September 25th, 2025 in the official Communiqué emerging from the Forty-Ninth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
2. Support the twelve Caribbean civil-society led advocacy priorities for inclusion in the official Communiqué from the Forty-Ninth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community and in the HLM4 Political Declaration.
   1. Engage communities and put people first in the NCD response.
   2. Address the commercial determinants of health and conflict of interest.
   3. Accelerate the implementation of healthy food environment environments.
   4. Promote full implementation of the WHO FCTC and the WHO MPOWER measures.
   5. Enhance physical activity across multiple settings.
   6. Accelerate the implementation of WHO SAFER alcohol harm reduction measures.
   7. Expand, integrate and strengthen mental health services.
   8. Eradicate cervical cancer, and reduce illness and premature death due to breast, prostate and colon cancers.
   9. Strengthen health systems using equity-, rights-based, and climate-resilient approaches.
   10. Breakdown silos, foster networking enhance collaboration.
   11. Mobilize investment, with resource allocation and mobilization strategies for sustainable financing of NCD prevention and control interventions.
   12. Strengthen accountability, mechanisms, metrics and related data collection, analysis, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting at all levels.
3. Support one or more CARICOM Heads of Government or State to have a lead role in at least one of the multi-stakeholder panels at the HLM4.
4. Support the hosting of a high-level side-event on the margins of the HLM4 led by CARICOM Heads of Government and State as was done in past UN HLMs on NCDs.
5. Endorse the inclusion of a representative from a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) representing people living with NCDs and a youth representative in country delegations to the HLM4 in recognition of the whole-of-society response to NCDs.

CARICOM has been globally recognised for its leadership on NCDs, including most recently with the 2023 Bridgetown Declaration on NCDs and Mental Health. As Member States meet in New York on September 25th, 2025 for the HLM4, let us collectively demonstrate the leadership of CARICOM. Now is the Time to Lead Again.

Dr. Kenneth Connell, HCC President On behalf of the Board of Directors and members of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition 

Download the letter.

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Barbadians now have a new comprehensive healthcare option with the opening of Bayview Laboratory at the new Bayview Urgent Care. Previously located on George Street in Belleville, Bayview Lab has joined its sister companies, Diagnostic Radiology Services and Bayview Hospital, to provide complete, patient-centered care under one roof.

Bayview Urgent Care, along with its laboratory and diagnostic radiology departments, is now open to the public with phased operating hours. In June, it will operate daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., extending to midnight in July and transitioning to a full 24-hour service by August.

Well known across Barbados for its HPV and STI-4 self-collection kits, Bayview Lab has expanded its diagnostic capabilities to include a broad range of new tests. These include liver and kidney function tests, prenatal and thyroid panels, as well as screenings for colorectal, ovarian, prostate, and other types of cancer. In addition, the laboratory has enhanced its STI testing services to screen for Hepatitis B and C, Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 and 2, Syphilis, and HIV (including both antibody and antigen testing).

Medical Laboratory Director, Dr Lyndon Waterman, described this expansion as phase one of the lab’s broader rollout.

“Our goal is to serve as a comprehensive health partner by equipping physicians with the diagnostic tools they need to provide exceptional care. As part of this effort, we will be introducing phlebotomy services starting July 1, 2025, allowing walk-in patients to access lab services more easily,” he explained.

At the official opening ceremony of Bayview Urgent Care, Hospital Administrator Jules Reid announced a significant new partnership between Bayview Labs and the international genetics firm, CariGenetics.

“We are thrilled to announce that Bayview Labs has partnered with CariGenetics to offer advanced genetic testing. With these tests, you will have access to Paternity tests, a cancer risk profile, your risk for developing kidney disease, and also a drug profile that guides your clinical team as to which medications will work best for you. These can be especially helpful for supporting mental health.”

Bayview Laboratory’s new home at Bayview Urgent Care marks an essential step in making quality healthcare more accessible to the community. With extended operating hours, a wider range of tests available and exciting new partnerships, the lab is ensuring that Barbadians have access to the quality healthcare they need, when they need it most.

The post Bayview Lab launches full-service laboratory in new Bayview Urgent Care appeared first on Barbados Today.

As the Guyana government plans to embark on the “aggressive” recruitment of foreign nurses to work at several new hospitals that are being built across the country, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday said new conditions of employment would be put in place for Cuban doctors. “We’re recruiting people from around the world, not confined ...

KINGSTON, JAMAICA, 10 June 2025—Caribbean HIV service organisations say they are experiencing severe service disruptions and financial instability that threaten to reverse decades of progress in the HIV response due to the funding pause issued by the U.S. Government in January 2025. A rapid assessment, which was conducted by the Joint United Nations Programme on ...

Guyana is moving ahead with revamping its pharmaceutical regulatory system with assistance from Rwanda, as part of preparations to possibly become a leading drug manufacturer and supplier to Caribbean and European Union (EU) markets. “We have done an assessment of our regulatory agency and our laws, when we looked at them – they date back ...

Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony on Saturday said there was no increase in the number of COVID-19 cases but publicly-owned hospitals have been told to be on alert so that tests could be done to detect a new strain. He said globally, a new COVID-19 strain, NB 1.8.1, was now circulating and causing some hospitalisations ...

The Ministry of Health and Wellness is currently investigating suspected cases of an infectious skin disease in a section of the Geriatric Hospital.

It said in a statement that it is using all available resources at its disposal, both within the public and private sectors to identify, treat and eradicate the problem at the Beckles Road, St Michael facility.

To contain any spread, the ministry has suspended visiting by members of the public to Units 1 and 2 of the hospital until further notice.

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Webinar: Act on Facts: Lets do it Better for the Children

On Wednesday 28th may 2025, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) hosted a regional webinar entitled: Act on Facts: Lets do it Better for the Children.

This webinar discussed the experiences and lessons learned around the implementation of healthy school nutrition policies in the Caribbean and public health experts, policymakers, educators, and civil society advocates shared their experiences, challenges, and best practices in safeguarding children’s health from commercial influences.

Presenters and Panellists

Visit the Lets do it better for the children campaign page.

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