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March 8th 2013

Healthy Caribbean News
Healthy Caribbean Coalition

HCC Member Feature

In celebration of International Women's Day and the launch of the HCC Civil Society Cervical Cancer Advocacy Initiative, each week in our News Roundup we will be featuring HCC members working at the forefront of cervical cancer and women's health.

This week we are placing the spotlight on KeLaHa Projects. KeLaHa Projects is a newly-incorporated non-profit foundation based in St. Maarten. The mission of their Cervical Cancer Awareness project is 'To be an unrelenting advocate in the fight against cervical cancer by creating greater awareness nationally about the disease, while promoting ways of prevention and early detection and serving as a reliable centre for support and access to counseling for persons and their families battling or otherwise affected by cervical cancer, all

KeLaHa Projects RBC Royal Bank staff awareness session

through enlisting the involvement and support of the community in various activities and programs'. Currently the team at KeLaHa lead by Keoma Hamer, who lost her mother to cervical cancer one year and five months ago (Oct.2.11), is implementing a Cervical Cancer & HPV Awareness initiative in St. Maarten under the theme "Together We Fight-Together We Win".

Key activities include educational sessions in workplaces, churches and schools and distribution of brochures and pamphlets. The team also provides direct assistance to members of the community who have been touched by cervical or any other gynecological cancers by meeting specific needs such as aiding in the process of providing Medical Insurance Cards when necessary, groceries, reading materials, and other basic needs. KeLaHa spreads their message through facebook, twitter, cellular phone text messages, Black Berry broadcasts and their website.

To mark their first anniversary on March.29 the organization is encouraging the regional community to take part in their " Cervical Cancer-Faces of the Caribbean" program by submitting their stories and picture, sending the message of hope and resilience as we Fight Together and Win Together to eradicate cervical cancer.

For more information about KeLaHa Projects visit their website www.kelahaprojects.org or their facebook page

Healthy Caribbean Coalition

News Roundup

International Women's Day 2013 - Join the Healthy Caribbean Coalition and other organizations all over the world in celebrating International Women's day this Friday March 8th, 2013. This year the HCC is demonstrating its commitment to women by embarking upon a Cervical Cancer Advocacy Campaign for Caribbean Civil Society in order to bring greater awareness and action around this disease which is the second leading cause of death among Caribbean women.
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PAHO eHealth Newsletter - President of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition talks about the "Get the Message" mHealth campaign plus New Mobile Phone-based Cholera Surveillance and Control System in Haiti, PAHO Develops eHealth Publication for Decision Makers, Educational Virtual Clinic Seeks to Strengthen Clinical Competencies in Indigenous and Remote Area
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Anti-tobacco lobby & smoking cessation initiatives in the Caribbean - Dr. Victor Coombs - There are more than one billion smokers in the world, Tobacco use kills 5.4 million people a year - an average of one person every six seconds, Smoking tobacco is second only to hypertension as a cause of world wide mortality, More than 80% of the world's smokers live in low - and middle-income countries and almost half of the worlds children breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke (PDF file 2.7MB)
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Pass tobacco control laws now - Jamaica Gleaner, Sunday March 3, 2013 Professor Everard Barton, chief of nephrology at the University Hospital of the West Indies, and chairman of Caribbean Institute of Nephrology, has called on the Government to make haste in passing tobacco-control legislation. Barton, speaking during a recent Gleaner Editors' Forum at the company's North Street offices, said the implementation of a Tobacco Control Act would go a far way in reducing kidney-related illness
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Honour Everett Koop's memory - Friday, March 1, 2013 - The world has lost a sterling man in former United States Surgeon General C Everett Koop, a paediatric surgeon known for his anti-smoking campaigns. C Everett Koop was not afraid to take on the big tobacco companies. He won!
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