CARICOM leaders - breakthrough in the fight against NCDs
12th July 2017
Opening ceremony, 38th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM, Grenada Trade Centre, Grenada, 4 July, 2017. © Caribbean Community
Concrete moves to tackle the epidemic of chronic diseases on the 10th Anniversary of the Port of Spain Declaration on Noncommunicable Diseases
The push for a healthier Caribbean received a considerable boost last week as the leaders at the 38th CARICOM Heads of Government Conference in Grenada made new commitments to tackle the NCD epidemic which is costing the region dear in terms of health and development.
In a session devoted to action against NCDs, the leaders discussed a raft of measures to declare the Caribbean a tobacco-free zone by 2022 in accordance with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which 13/14 full members of CARICOM have signed and ratified but which they have been slow to implement.
In addition, CARICOM heads have decided to look closely at measures, in particular taxation and education, to try to change dietary practices in which eating salty, high sugar, fatty foods and drinking sweet sodas has become the norm for many, especially younger people.
They also expressed a commitment to fight childhood obesity.
