NCDs a Priority for Jamaican Civil Society

HCC President and Manager met with key NCD actors from the Jamaican NCD Executive during HCC's country visit last week. Led by NCD Executive Chairman, Dr. Rosemarie Wright-Pascoe, there were rich discussions around the need for a more coordinated approach and inter-agency collaboration in the response to chronic diseases. A wide cross section of stakeholders were present including the Council for Voluntary Services, the Heart Foundation of Jamaica, The Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control, the Nurses Association of Jamaica, The Jamaica Ministry of Health, and the Jamaica Council of Churches.

The JCS also used the opportunity to share with us their mammography mobile unit which is used to provide breast cancer screening to women in rural hard to reach communities across Jamaica. The HCC also took this opportunity to meet with key partners at UWI Mona including Professor Horace Fletcher, Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences and champion for improved cervical cancer care in Jamaica; and Professor Rainford Wilkes, Director, Epidemiology Research Unit, TMRI, and member of the HCC Advocacy Technical Working Group.

HCC Pays a Courtesy call on the Prime Minister of Belize

The HCC President, Professor Sir Trevor Hassell and Manager, Mrs. Maisha Hutton, paid a courtesy call on The Honourable Prime Minister Dean O. Barrow of Belize on Wednesday May 7, 2014. The purpose of the visit was to share the recently completed NCD Regional Status Report (Read more) and to discuss in particular, Belize findings and recommendations for action.

President of the Belize Cancer Society, Mrs. Laura Tucker Longsworth was present and emphasised the important role that the BCS played in the development of the report and the central role they will play in advocating for the translation of findings into action.

The Prime Minister stated that the Heads of Government of CARICOM would continue to support the NCD effort nationally, regionally and globally in view of the significant health and socioeconomic burden of these diseases. The HCC was grateful for this opportunity and look forward to continued leadership in CARICOM especially in light of the upcoming UNGA NCD Review in July 2014.

600+ of Jamaica's Most Vulnerable Women Screened for Cervical Cancer in Jamaica

Over 600 of Jamaica's most at risk and vulnerable women were screened for cervical cancer through the Australian High Commission funded, and HCC-managed Caribbean Civil Society Cervical Cancer Initiative (C4PI). HCC President and Manager were in Jamaica last week to meet with Executive Director of the Jamaican Cancer Society (JCS), Yulit Gordon and her team including Mr. Micheal Leslie, JCS Accountant. The project has been extremely successful resulting in over 600 women Jamaican women receiving pap tests - a large portion of which had never had pap tests before.

The Jamaican cancer society is meeting a dire need in a country where approximately 10% of the most vulnerable Jamaican women are being screened for this largely preventable disease. In Jamaica it can take up to one year to turnaround pap test results, in contrast the JCS is able to do this in 1-3 weeks depending upon the load. The HCC applauds the JCS for their tremendous success in this project, reaching impoverished vulnerable women for cervical cancer screening who would likely not otherwise have been screened.

HCC and the JCS share CSO NCD Regional Status Report with Jamaican Minister of Health

HCC President, Manager and Exec Director of the JCS paid a courtesy visit to The Jamaican Honourable Minister of Health, Dr. Fenton Ferguson on Tuesday May 6, 2014. The purpose of the visit was to share the recently completed NCD Regional Status Report (Read more) and discuss priority actions for CSO NCD Advocacy in Jamaica and throughout the region. The Minister of Health is a strong supporter of civil society and has been an ardent supporter of the JCTC in their fight against the formidable tobacco industry in Jamaica. "I have embraced CSOs - if we don't have them on board it would be more difficult to achieve our goals.

We are fearless in what we do" the passionate Minister noted. The JCS and the HCC are committed to a truly whole of society approach which involves working proactively with government partners. The Minister was supportive of CSO partnerships at the regional level and added 'I would want to strengthen the relationship with HCC in a much more direct way to strengthen the Caribbean's response to NCDs'. The HCC applauds the Minister for his leadership and commitment.

HCC at CARPHA 59th Annual CARPHA Health Research Conference

Ms. Angela Rose, Director of the Barbados National Registry for Chronic NCDs and Lecturer Epidemiology, CDRC, UWI, recently represented the HCC in Aruba at the CARPHA's 59th Annual Health Research Conference. The HCC was invited to attend the CARICOM CMO's meeting on April 29th as an Observer representing civil society interests around NCDs. Ms Rose presentation: 'Priority research areas for national policy action on NCDs: Caribbean civil society experience' outlined the findings from the recently launched HCC/NCDA Regional Status Report on NCDs (Read more) and summarised the Call to Action highlighting priority areas of civil society led advocacy action moving forward including: Alcohol policies; Population salt reduction; Health systems strengthening; Enhanced prevention, control and treatment of cervical cancer and Strengthening the multi-sector approach.

On May 1st Ms. Rose presented at the NIH/NCI meeting on Cancer surveillance in the Caribbean 1-day meeting. In Ms Rose's presentation: 'Educating the public and relevant authorities on the importance of cancer/NCD registries: A civil society response', she described the HCC and outlined the role of CSOs in making cancer/NCD registries more effective through educating stakeholders, performing high-level advocacy, and by supporting registries. Civil society has an important role to play in the establishment and maintenance of cancer registries especially in the Caribbean settings where CSOs provide a great deal of service delivery.

The UICC has a great tool for CSOs: Supporting national cancer control planning: a toolkit for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) (download here). On May 2nd, Dr. Kenneth Connell, Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacology, Principle Investigator on the CDC/PAHO Global Standardised Hypertension Treatment Project (GSHTP) Barbados Pilot, and Chairman of the CARPHA Hypertension Guidelines Committee also presented on the HCC-managed GSHTP currently rolling out in Barbados with a view to scaling up regionally and throughout Latin America. The HCC would like to commend CARPHA and its collaborators on an excellent event.

Cancer Society of the Bahamas Cancer Awareness Month May 2014 Events - Monthly General Meeting, Tuesday, May 13th at 5:30 pm. FREE Cervical Screening Clinics Saturday, May 17th 9:00 am - 4:00 pm and Saturday, May 24th 9:00 am - 4:00 pm. 13th Annual Ball, Saturday, May 31st at 7:00 pm. Open House, Saturday, May 31st 9:00 am - 1:00 pm. Read more

Cancer Society of the Bahamas Cancer T-Shirts. 'Be a Part of the Revolution & Fight against Cancer'. Read more

Jamaica Ministry of Health launches new National Cancer Registry

The Hon. Minister of Health of Jamaica, Dr. Fenton Ferguson, thanked PAHO for their support of the National Cancer Registry which was officially launched on Tuesday May 6, 2014.

Ms. Yulit Gordon, Executive Director Jamaica Cancer Society, a key partner in the effort was present at the launch at Minstry of Health offices in Kingston.

CARPHA and CTO Launch Tourism and Health Programme

CARPHA and CTO successfully launched the regional tourism and health programme and conducted an awareness and discussion workshop on Friday May 2, 2014 in Aruba. The keynote address was given by the Minister of Tourism, Antigua and Barbuda, John Maginley, and the “call to action” by the Premier of the Turks of Caicos islands, Dr. Rufus Ewing. Working group sessions were also held to discuss and revise the components of the programme. Read more

Seventh-day Adventist Health Ministries 2nd Global Conference in Geneva
The 2nd Global Conference in Geneva July 7th - 12th 2014 is organized by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Health Ministries in collaboration with the World Health Organization, under the theme: "Non-Communicable Disease: Lifelong Lifestyle Prevention Accessible to All". Read more

THE ASH/WHL CHALLENGE - Take 100,000 Blood Pressures for World Hypertension Day - For its 7th Annual Hypertension Community Outreach Program, the American Society of Hypertension will collaborate with the World Hypertension League’s celebration of World Hypertension Day. This year ASH and the World Hypertension League are challenging its members and hypertension healthcare providers throughout the world to collectively take 100,000 blood pressure measurements during the 7 days leading up to World Hypertension Day on May 17, 2014. Read more

NCD Alliance E-Alert - Slides from the recent webinar on the rescent preparations and activities for the upcoming 67th Session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva (19-24 May), and updates on the UN NCD Review (10-11 July) are now available. UN NCD Review modalities finalized. 67th World Health Assembly, 19-24 May The World Health Assembly (WHA) starts in less than 2 weeks time. Read more

Cancer Support Services recently had some very successful events

African Caribbean Cancer Consortium Conference - Advancing Health Equity in Populations of African Descent. October 9th through 11th in Schoelcher, Martinique, French West Indies. For further information on abstract submission, hotel registration and links to the conference registration form please visit AC3online.org

When it comes to cancer, no amount of alcohol is safe! "Responsible drinking" has become a 21st-century mantra for how most people view alcohol consumption. But when it comes to cancer, no amount of alcohol is safe. That is the conclusion of the 2014 World Cancer Report (WCR), issued by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Declared a carcinogen by the IARC in 1988, alcohol is causally related to several cancers. "We have known for a long time that alcohol causes esophageal cancer, says Jürgen Rehm, PhD, WCR contributor on alcohol consumption, and Senior Scientist at the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, "but the relationship with other tumors, such as breast cancer, has come to our attention only in the past 10-15 years." Read more

Public Lecture on “THE CONVERSATION: Advance Directives” (Transition: Hospital to Home Care - The Barbados Association of Palliative Care in Association with The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Present a Public Lecture on “THE CONVERSATION: Advance Directives” (Transition: Hospital to Home Care, with Facilitator: Dr. Susan Krauter - MD, FAAHPM on Friday, 16th May, 2014 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Auditorium at 2p.m. Admission is Free and open to all.

World Family Doctor Day – May 19

WONCA declared World Family Doctor Day in Cancun, Mexico in 2010. The first World Family Doctor Day was celebrated on 19 May 2010. It has been taken up with enthusiasm around the world and has given us a chance to celebrate what we do to provide recognition to family doctors, to highlight important issues and the work we perform in supporting health care for all people in our local communities, our nations and around the world. Read more

NCD Articles on WebMD

• Exercise and Asthma - Is It Safe to Exercise if I Have Asthma? One of the goals of asthma treatment is to help you maintain a normal and healthy lifestyle, which includes exercise and other physical activities. Read more
• Kids' Diabetes Rates Up Dramatically in 8 Years - Increase in type 1 diabetes especially baffling to experts. Rates of diabetes in U.S. children have jumped sharply in just eight years, according to new research. The prevalence of type 1 diabetes increased 21 percent between 2001 and 2009. Read more
• Heart Disease and Cardiac Rehabilitation - If you have heart disease, your doctor may encourage you to participate in a cardiac rehabilitation (rehab) program, which is designed to help you exercise safely and maintain a heart-healthy lifestyle. Read more
• Understanding Colorectal Cancer - Symptoms - In its early stage, colorectal cancer usually produces no symptoms, learn about some of the early waring signs. Read more

HCC News Roundup Archive - If you have missed any of our News Roundups you can view previous Roundups on our News Roundup Archive webpage here

HCC Featured - Previously featured Members, events and news can now be found on our HCC Featured webpage here