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ENOUGH NCDs

August 12th - August 19th 2018

Feature

Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados (HSFB) - Childhood Obesity Public Lecture: From Birth to Beyond

Prof. Anne St. John, Consultant Paediatrician and Director of the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados
Prof. Anne St. John, Consultant Paediatrician
and Director of the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados
The Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados hosted a Public Lecture on Tuesday August 14th 2018 with the aim to educate the general public on the incidence of childhood obesity, the factors that can contribute to childhood obesity from birth through to adolescence, the dangers associated with the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages and also highlight practical measure that can be implemented to improve the health of our children. The lecture was funded as part of a grant dedicated to childhood obesity prevention received from the Healthy Caribbean Coalition who received funding from the Caribbean Development Bank.

Raising awareness among the general public of the scale of the childhood obesity epidemic while directly correlating the contribution that SSBs make to this disease, was seen as key to gain support for policy initiatives to create healthier environments for our school children. The speakers were Dr Alison Bernard, President of the Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Foundation, Prof. Anne St. John, Consultant Paediatrician and Director of the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados and Ms. Abigail Clarke, Registered Dietician.
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The Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Foundation of Barbados (BCNF) Childhood Obesity Joint Stakeholder Meeting

Delegates at the meeting including (front centre left) Dame Billie Miller, Patron BCNF  and (front centre right) Hon. Colin E. Jordan, Minister of Labour and Social Partnership Relations
The Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Foundation of Barbados hosted a joint stakeholder meeting on Wed, Aug 15 at the Savannah Beach Hotel in Barbados from 8:00 am - 12:00 pm. This meeting was one of the significant achievements made possible through the project funding from Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) through the Healthy Caribbean Collection (HCC). The meeting was a tremendous success and resulted in national media coverage highlighting the importance of breastfeeding and an endorsement from Government via the Ministry of Labour for a Breastfeeding Workplace Policy. 
 
Objectives of meeting: 
  • Build awareness of link between childhood obesity, low breastfeeding rates and non-communicable diseases by highlighting how breastfeeding affects the health and development of infants and their mothers along the life course 
  • Provide information on how promoting and supporting the creation of breastfeeding friendly environments can improve breastfeeding rates
  • Present the business and economic case for breastfeeding workplace policy
  • Unveil a draft breastfeeding workplace policy, which businesses can adapt to their purpose and invite feedback from all stakeholders
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Related media:
Consultant Opportunity
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News

Fighting Fat: Health Agencies Considering Plans to Reverse Child Obesity

Several health agencies are hoping to put a stop to fast-food companies sponsoring school sports and other family-oriented activities.
Sir Trevor Hassell
They are also in support of further increasing the tax on sugar sweetened beverages to 20 per cent. In light of the growing childhood obesity epidemic, president of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC), Sir Trevor Hassell, suggested these were among the recommendations which the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), Ministry of Health and the HCC, among others, were considering.
In recent surveys in Barbados 18.5 per cent of students reported consumption of fast food three or more times per week, 73.3 per cent reported drinking one or more carbonated beverages per day and 15.5 per cent of the sample reported no consumption of fruits and vegetables within the last month.
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Communicating Noncommunicable Diseases

Participants of a World Diabetes Day walk in Tsakane, South Africa. (Photo by: DoC / CC BY-ND)
The terms "noncommunicable diseases" and “NCDs” don't exactly lend themselves to snappy and exciting communications campaigns and, for many, the definition isn’t clear. But mention heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke, or mental health individually, and people have some level of knowledge and personal connection.

Competing against the marketing efforts of multimillion-dollar global industries, however, such as the tobacco, fast food, and alcoholic beverages industries - all products associated with increased NCD risk factors - poses one of the biggest challenges.

“We're really going to need to up our game so that we can counter that messaging,” said Maisha Hutton, executive director of Barbados-based Healthy Caribbean Coalition. “Perhaps we, as public health community and civil society advocates, need to do a better job of building basic awareness around this term and what NCDs are; I think collectively we've failed in that area.”
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Belize Cancer Society Speaks on Child Obesity in Belize

Heather Reneau
Heather Reneau Senior Administrator of Belize Cancer Society
Love News spoke Heather Reneau, the Senior Administrator of the Belize Cancer Society, who shed some light on how dominant obesity is in our country and the negative effects it has on a person.

Heather Reneau Senior Administrator of Belize Cancer Society: "In Belize it’s according to the Global Health Survey in 2016. It’s about over 50% of adults of both sexes are considered obese and for kids it’s a bit over 28% for both sexes so it can be said that every one in three Caribbean child is considered overweight or obese. It is actually one of the most under-diagnosed conditions in our region at this point because people say obesity is not too important but when you think about renal failure, you think about kidney diseases, you think about cardiovascular disease, cancer, hypotension and for kids it gives them sometimes self esteem issues;, it gives them depression. They are not able to function as well as other kids in school so we want to raise the education on this and along with the Government and all the social partners I am positive that will be successful."
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‘Jamaica Moves’ to be Introduced in High Schools

HCC Supports the Diabetes Association of Barbados at Their First Ever Camp Wellness

Diabetes Association of Barbados
Attendees at the Camp Wellness launch: including (front row L/R): Francine Charles, HCC representative, Donna Barker, Acting Health Promotion Officer with the Ministry of Health and Wellness and Rev. Erma Ambrose, Recor, St Paul's Church
The Healthy Caribbean Coalition was pleased to support the launch of Camp Wellness on Monday August 13th, 2018 at the Springer Memorial School in Barbados. The Camp  is a new initiative coordinated by the Diabetes Association of Barbados, focussed on sensitising youngsters up to the age of 16 years about the importance of a healthy lifestyle to both their physical, mental and emotional wellness. Speakers at the launch included the Association's President, Trudy Griffith, the Health Promotion Officer (Acting) at the MInister of Health and Wellness, Donna Barker and the HCC's Communications and Advocacy Officer for Childhood Obesity Prevention, Francine Charles.
Francine Charles
HCC representative, Francine Charles gets the help of some young campers to highlight the dangers of too much sugar
After the event, all of the children and other guests at the launch showed their support for Childhood Obesity Prevention by signing HCC's Childhood Obesity Prevention Call to Action.

Related Media:
#toomuchjunk
Who's Signed
Look who has had enough of unhealthy food environments for children and supports the call for urgent policies to prevent childhood obesity.
Dame Billie Miller, Retired Politician and Patron of the Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Foundation of Barbados (BNCF)
Andrew Felix President of the StLucia Diabetes & Hypertension Association (SLDHA)
St. Lucia Diabetes & Hypertension Association
At the St. Lucia Diabetes & Hypertension Association (SLDHA)
St. Lucia Diabetes & Hypertension Association
At the St. Lucia Diabetes & Hypertension Association (SLDHA)
Camp Wellness Kids
Diabetes Association of Barbados, Camp Wellness Kids
Camp Wellness Kids
Diabetes Association of Barbados, Camp Wellness Kids
Camp Wellness
Diabetes Association of Barbados, Camp Wellness
Sheraton Centre Mall
Shoppers at the Sheraton Centre Mall, Barbados
Join the Call to Action NOW!
See a gallery of Who's Signed here.

HCC Childhood Obesity Prevention Fact Sheets

Childhood obesity prevention fact sheets which are intended to serve as tools to support civil society advocacy. The fact sheets contain individual country information about childhood obesity and overweight, adult overweight and local policy environments, including snapshots of the Childhood Obesity Prevention Scorecard (COPS).

The NCD Alliance featured the fact sheets in their recent Newsletter.
GET THE FACT SHEETS

Childhood Obesity Still a Great Threat

Sir Trevor Hassell, President of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition
Sir Trevor Hassell, President of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC), engaging in conversation with Dame Billie Miller, Patron of the Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Foundation (BCNF).
Obesity in children represents the greatest threat to the health of future generations, and it is against this backdrop that a number of national and regional health organisations have developed some strategic plans to counteract such.

Word of this came from Sir Trevor Hassell, President of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC), as he delivered a few remarks during the Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Foundation’s (BCNF) Stakeholder Meeting programme, which took place at The Savannah Hotel.

“CARICOM Heads of Government last year noted with concern that obesity in children represented the greatest threat to the health of future generations, with the level of overweight and obesity being more than 30 per cent in both primary and secondary school populations in many Member States,” he said.
Read more
Prevent20
To better support Prevent20 coalition efforts around tobacco tax, Prevent20 are working with a group of user design students from George Washington University to gather information on the usability of the current Prevent20 website

Please help make the Prevent20 website better and inform future coalition tools by taking a short survey, your time would be much appreciated.
Complete the survey

Research Demonstrates Higher Alcohol Taxes Help Reduce Alcohol Consumption

WHO
Tax increases may not sound the most attractive of policy options, but are the single most cost-effective way of diminishing demand and reining back consumption,” says Dr Daniel Chisholm, Programme Manager in the Division of Noncommunicable Diseases and Promoting Health through the Life-course at WHO/Europe and co-author of a new study on alcohol control policies.

The study, conducted by WHO and one of its collaborating centres based in Canada, was published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs in July 2018. It analyses the cost–effectiveness of a range of alcohol control strategies.

Using data from 16 countries, the study assesses the costs and health impacts of different policy options, with a view to identifying “best buys” for reducing harmful alcohol use and thereby improving overall health in the population.
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UNGA Prepares for Three High-level Meetings on Health

UNGA Prepares for Three High-level Meetings on Health
Credit: Shutterstock
Governments have advanced preparations for three high-level meetings on health: a high-level meeting on fighting tuberculosis (TB); the third high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs); and a high-level meeting on universal health care (UHC).

All three topics are the subject of SDG targets found under Goal 3 (good health and well-being). Ending the TB epidemic by 2030 is called for in SDG target 3.3, which also addresses AIDS, malaria, neglected tropical diseases, hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases. SDG target 3.4 commits to reducing early deaths from NCDs by one-third by 2030, and SDG target 3.8 seeks to achieve universal health coverage by 2030, including financial risk protection and access to quality healthcare, medicines and vaccines.
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Tonga PM challenges Pacific Island Leaders to Lose Weight

Tonga PM challenges Pacific Island Leaders to Lose Weight
Pacific Island leaders pictured at the Pacific Islands Forum in Samoa last year
(ABC News: Nick Haggarty)
Tongan Prime Minister Akilisi Pohiva has challenged other Pacific Island leaders to participate in a year-long weight-loss challenge to set an example to their national communities.

Mr Pohiva told a local newspaper he would propose the competition when the leaders meet next month.

Ten of the islands sit at the top of the world obesity rate rankings.

On some, up to 90% of the population are overweight, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Read more
Related media:

The UWI Open Campus and Caribbean Institute of Certified Management Consultants (CICMC) Sign MOU

The UWI Open Campus and Caribbean Institute of Certified Management Consultants (CICMC) Sign MOU
The University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus and The Caribbean Institute of Certified Management Consultants (CICMC), signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Tuesday, August 14, 2018. The agreement which was signed by the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of The UWI Open Campus, Dr. Luz Longsworth and President of the CICMC, Mr. Donald Demeritte provides collaboration in areas such as: regional capacity building utilising the skills of Management Consultants to assist with specialised projects and joint ventures, organizational development initiatives, public education workshops and webinars and technical assistance, where practicable in harnessing the experience and resources of both organizations.
Read more

The Caribbean Regional Center for Research Excellence

Laboratory/research needs assessment survey
The Caribbean Regional Center for Research Excellence was funded by the National Cancer Institute to provide regional infrastructure to support research on cancer and cardiometabolic disease. Part of their strategic plan is to better equip researchers in the Caribbean region by delivering appropriate research enhancement activities to address the laboratory and research needs of the region. To do this they must first conduct a laboratory/research needs assessment.

Please take 10 minutes of your time to complete the online needs assessment form which can be accessed here.

If you have questions please contact us at ac3project@gmail.com.
Complete the survey
NCD Alliance Newsletter
  • Basic diabetes care shouldn't depend on luck
  • UPDATED: Side-events on NCDs around the UN HLM
  • HCC fact sheets on childhood obesity in the Caribbean
  • Many reasons to apply for membership in NCD Alliance
  • Uruguay adopts plain packaging of tobacco products
  • Grants for new thinking & practices in global health
  • Working together to prevent suicide - WSPD 2018
Read more
Child Passive Smoking 'Increases Chronic Lung Risk'.
Getty Images

Child Passive Smoking 'Increases Chronic Lung Risk'.

Non-smoking adults have a higher risk of dying from serious lung disease if they grew up with parents who smoked, according to US research. The researchers said childhood passive smoking was "likely to add seven deaths to every 100,000 non-smoking adults dying annually".

The study of 70,900 non-smoking men and women was led by the American Cancer Society.
 
Vaping 'Can Damage Vital Immune System Cells'
Getty Images

Vaping 'Can Damage Vital Immune System Cells'

Vaping can damage vital immune system cells and may be more harmful than previously thought, a study suggests. Researchers found e-cigarette vapour disabled important immune cells in the lung and boosted inflammation.

The researchers "caution against the widely held opinion that e-cigarettes are safe".
 
NCD FREE News
  • International Youth Day 2018
  • Feast of Ideas 2018:
  • Take a Seat at Our Table
  • Primary Health Care and NCDs
  • NCDs in Humanitarian Settings: Key Messages
Read more
Key Messages From Our Publications
HCC Advocacy Priorities for the 3rd UNHLM on NCDs Outcome Document
Read more

HCC Publications

Preparing CARICOM Ministries of Foreign Affairs for the 3rd UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs and Beyond
Preparing CARICOM Ministries of Foreign Affairs for the 3rd UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs and Beyond: a briefing note contribution from civil society
Read more
The Caribbean NCD Forum – Technical Document
The Caribbean NCD Forum – Technical Document: Supporting national and regional advocacy in the Caribbean in the lead up to the 3rd UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs in 2018
Read more
See All HCC Publications
Forthcoming Events

NCD Alliance Global Week for Action on NCDs

NCD Alliance Global Week for Action on NCDs
Read more

A Multidisciplinary Approach to Heart Health

A Multidisciplinary Approach to Heart Health
Read more

World Heart Day 2018 September 29

My Heart Your Heart
Read more

World Cancer Conference 2018 Registration Now Open

World Cancer Conference 2018
Read more

International Conference - Climate Change: Impacts on Food & Nutrition Security

Climate Change: Impacts on Food & Nutrition Security
Read more

The 84TH UWI/BAMP CME Conference

Save the Date
The 84TH UWI/BAMP CME Conference takes place at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Saturday 17th-18th November, 2018.

This conference will feature the inaugural lecture in the 'Distinguished Lecture Series' delivered by HCC President Professor Sir Trevor Hassell.

Also featured is the 2nd Annual 'Prof. George Nicholson Memorial Lecture', delivered this year by Dr Adrian Sawyer.
There will be many other presentations, discussions and breakout groups, to see the first draft programme of events click on the button below.
Read more

World Congress of Cardiology & Cardiovascular Health

World Congress of Cardiology & Cardiovascular Health
Read more
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The HCC is a regional network of Caribbean health NGOs and civil society organizations with the remit to combat chronic diseases (NCDs) and their associated risk factors and conditions. Our membership presently consists of more than 65 Caribbean-based health NGOs and over 55 not-for-profit organisations and, in excess of 200 individual members based in the Caribbean and across the globe.

To join the HCC email us at hcc@healthycaribbean.org
The work of HCC would not be possible without core funding from Sagicor Life Inc
Sagicor Life Inc.
The HCC promote the work of civil society throughout the Caribbean in a variety of ways including sharing of their materials, this is not an endorsement of their materials or messages. The information contained in this newsletter is for general information purposes only, we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct but any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. Through this newsletter you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of the HCC. We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
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