PAHO, WHO endorse Caribbean Moves

Director General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom and Director of Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) Dr Carissa Etienne today expressed their support for the Caribbean Moves programme.

The programme was introduced at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Breakfast Meeting by Jamaica's Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton during the 3rd United Nations High-Level Meeting in New York.

Etienne, in her speech delivered via a video presentation due to her absence, congratulated the Government of Jamaica on its national coordinated response to the increased incidences of non-communicable diseases (NCD) - Jamaica Moves.

She further welcomed the unified approach agreed upon by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government that will see the establishment of an umbrella initiative - Caribbean Moves.

“I am pleased that in the spirit of regional cooperation, which underpinned the Port-Of-Spain Declaration, this programme will now be expanded regionally through the Caribbean Moves initiative. This initiative comes at a very timely moment with the release of new data showing that over 30 percent of adults in the Caribbean are physically inactive,” Etienne said.

Over ten years ago, CARICOM Head of Governments issued the Port of Spain Declaration which mandated increased policies to provide more enabling environments to reduce the risk factors for NCDs and that it be supported by a reformulation of national health promotion and behaviour change programmes.

Today, the CARICOM leaders agreed that despite the progress being made in each member state a more coordinated approach is needed.

“The vision is that Caribbean culture reflects a more active and healthy society with a purpose to empower all people in the Caribbean to be more physically active in their daily lives and to eat more healthy, taking advantage of accessible, safe and enabling physical environments and food security that makes the healthy choice the affordable choice,” Tufton said as he addressed the gathering at the breakfast meeting.

With the Caribbean having the highest mortality and obesity rates in the Americas, non-communicable diseases account for 3 out of 4 deaths. It is therefore timely to have this unified voice and combined effort in order to effectively fight this NCD epidemic.

“This programme is intended to scale up the efforts of ongoing national programmes for increasing physical activity and healthy eating across the Caribbean. Among other things, Caribbean Moves will galvanise countries under one vision but each countries project will be unique fostering a cultural and social movement for regular physical activity within the Caribbean,” said Tufton

In the months ahead, a small secretariat will be established to work on the implementation schedule through the coordination of specific activities under the Caribbean Moves brand to complement and strengthen the existing efforts of each regional territory.

We want to hear from you! Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169, email us at editors@gleanerjm.com or onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com.