At the 72nd World Health Assembly, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) presented a new resource written by civil society and firstly targeted to government officials in the region to build their capacity to participate actively in the first UN High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UN HLM on UHC).

First United Nations High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage - Technical Brief for CARICOM Countries: A Contribution from Civil Society. Available here

This Technical Brief aims at providing key information to Caribbean Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and Ministries of Health (MoH), among other governmental and civil society organisations from different sectors, for their active involvement in the preparatory processes leading to the UN HLM on UHC on 23 September 2019, including in the negotiations for the development of the Political Declaration.

The informed and active participation of the MoFA and MoH – key actors in developing and strengthening the multisectoral, whole-of-government (WoG), whole-of-society (WoS), health-in-all-policies approaches, which are critical to improve health outcomes and reduce inequities – will provide an important perspective that recognises and highlights major health priorities in the Caribbean, such as noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

The Brief provides important background information on the UN HLM on UHC, explores the current context of UHC and NCDs globally and in the Caribbean region – including the importance of addressing the social, environmental, commercial, and other determinants of health in the quest to reduce inequities and leave no-one behind in national, regional, and global sustainable development policies; and summarises the preparatory processes leading up to the HLM.

The document also presents eight HCC Advocacy Priorities and related Advocacy Asks, important considerations for inclusion in the Political Declaration from a civil society, NCD-focused perspective. These Advocacy Priorities and Advocacy Asks, are based on NCD Alliance’s five priorities, and facilitate advancing to UHC and strengthening NCD prevention and control in the Caribbean region.