Regional private sector group launches framework for fight against NCDs

As Caribbean countries intensify efforts to combat non-communicable diseases (NCDs), the CARICOM Private Sector Organisation (CPSO) is seeking to showcase and document its role in this fight with the launch of a Reporting Framework for CARICOM Private Sector NCD Reduction Initiatives.

The framework provides a mechanism to record, measure, and strengthen private-sector action to address NCDs across the region.

“We’re getting charges from the WHO (World Health Organisation) and several governments around the region … the implementation of sugar taxes and other regulatory threats are coming at us from left, right, and centre,” CPSO Chairman Gervase Warner said yesterday during a virtual launch of the initiative.

Countries across the region have implemented various taxes targeting the consumption of unhealthy products, including, tobacco, alcohol, and sweetened beverages.

Jamaica was the latest in the region to introduce a new special consumption tax of $0.02 per millilitre on non-alcoholic sugary, carbonated, and non-carbonated beverages to combat high obesity and diabetes rates. However, in closing the 2026-2027 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives yesterday, Finance and the Public Service Minister Fayval Williams indicated that the proposed tax had been revised and set at 22 cents per gram of added sugar. The tax will take effect May 1, instead of April 1, to allow time for implementation.

NEED FOR COLLABORATION

Acknowledging the evolving landscape that Caribbean businesses are operating in, Warner stressed the need for collaboration to ensure that they align with changing policies.

However, at the same time, he also underscored the proactiveness of businesses across the region in addressing health issues.

“I’d always argue that we’re doing a lot more to prevent non-communicable diseases with our employees and customers than somebody could regulate us to because we just care,” he stated.

This, he noted, included education campaigns, voluntary reformulation, proper disclosure of information, and community and employee engagement such as enabling easier and faster health screening.

Meanwhile, lamenting the fact that more than 75 per cent of all deaths in the region are attributable to NCDs, Dr Patrick Antoine, chief executive officer and technical director at the CPSO, noted that this high rate diminishes the quality of life of citizens, erodes productivity, and burdens health systems.

“Behind every statistic is a worker, a colleague, or a family member,” he said.

He stated that the launch of the reporting framework is pushing back against perceptions that regionally, the private sector is a bystander in the fight against NCDs.

“This framework is another downpayment to ensure that the unfortunate perception that persists regarding the private sector from time to time, that it ends today,” he said, while emphasising that the CPSO is uniquely positioned to contribute to driving change at scale.

“We are the major employers across this community. We shape the physical environment in which people spend the majority of their days, in which they work, in which they recreate, in which they engage. We understand our influence on shaping culture, on shaping norms and shaping behaviours. We recognise that we have an unparalleled capacity and, equally, an inescapable responsibility to promote the health and wellness of our people,” he said.

STEPS TO FIGHT AGAINST NCDS

To this end, he also stated that many regional companies and business-sector organisations are already taking steps to fight against NCDs. This, he said, includes the introduction of employee wellness programmes, expanding health benefits, reformulating formulas, creating mental-health support structures, and fostering workplace cultures where people can thrive.

“These efforts are already contributing to the fight against NCDs. They deserve to be measured, they deserve to be assessed, and they do deserve to be scaled up. More importantly, we in the CPSO, acting on behalf of the collective private sector in the CARICOM, believe that they deserve to be counted, they deserve to be compared, and that they deserve to be continuously improved and expanded,” he said.

The information provided in the reporting framework by the regional private sector will allow for showcasing such initiatives in a manner that is aligned with national and regional policies and strategies, the WHO Global NCD Action Plan, and other related CARICOM mandates.

It will also allow for progress monitoring, accountability, knowledge sharing, and multisectoral engagement in a coordinated manner to inform policy dialogue.

Declaring that the region has an opportunity to rewrite the story of NCDs, Antoine also lauded the Caribbean government for making this issue a priority.

“We have an opportunity, having regard to the priority that we’ve placed on this as a development challenge, not to see this NCD as a tragedy that we must endure but as a challenge through collaboration, and through cooperation, and through deliberate action, we can overcome so that a generation from now, we’re going to be in a better place as a Caribbean civilisation,” he stated.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com