Caribbean Wellness Day: mobilizing a region for chronic non-communicable disease prevention and control
Samuels TA, Fraser H. Caribbean Wellness
Day: mobilizing a region for chronic non-communicable disease
prevention and control. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2010;
28(6):472–9.
SYNOPSIS
The member states of the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) have the highest prevalence of chronic noncommunicable
diseases (CNCDs) in the Americas. The
CARICOM heads of government issued the Port-of-Spain
Declaration “Uniting to Stop the Epidemic of Chronic Non-
Communicable Diseases in the Caribbean,” mandating intersectoral,
population-based approaches and commemoration of
the summit on the second Saturday in September as
“Caribbean Wellness Day (CWD).” CWD, inaugurated in
September 2008, is designed to strengthen public, private,
and civil society partnerships and to promote multicountry,
multisectoral activities in support of wellness. By 2009, the
second year of the celebrations, 18 of the 20 CARICOM countries
embraced and celebrated with multifaceted, multifocal
activities, using this as a catalyst for sustained physical activities,
healthy food choices, and health screening in a smokefree
environment. Organizational support and Caribbean
branding of products came from the Pan American Health
Organization/World Health Organization and CARICOM.
Outcomes will be measured by input and process indicators
and CNCD risk factor surveillance.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) includes mainland countries Guyana, Suriname,
and Belize and the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica,
Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. The five United Kingdom
Overseas Territories-Anguilla,
Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, and
Turks and Caicos Islands-are associate members (1).
With the exception of Haiti, they are middle income
developing countries with a population of 7
million, mean per capita income of US$7 005, and
mean life expectancy of 72 years (Table 1) (2, 3).
The Caribbean has the highest prevalence of
chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCDs) in the
region of the Americas (2). Diabetes mortality in
Trinidad and Tobago and in Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines is 600% higher than in North America
(United States and Canada), and cardiovascular disease
mortality rates in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana,
and Suriname are 84%, 62%, and 56% higher, respectively,
than in North America (Figure 1). In Barbados,
the prevalence rate and mortality rate of diabetes related
lower extremity amputations are among the
highest in the world (4, 5).
Globally, CNCD mortality in middle-income developing
countries is projected to increase to 61% by
2015 and 75% by 2030 (6, 7). Currently, almost half of
CNCD deaths occur in people < 70 years old, with a
quarter < 60 years old, adversely affecting the economy
at the individual, household, and national levels
(8). CNCDs are more prevalent among the poor, and
the decline in cardiovascular diseases in higher income
countries occurs later among the poor (9). Addressing
chronic diseases is thus a challenge for the
core principles of social justice, equity, and access.
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a civil society alliance for combatting chronic disease in the caribbean
a civil society alliance for combatting chronic disease in the caribbean
a civil society alliance for combatting chronic disease in the caribbean
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The Healthy Caribbean Coalition encourages you to join the Health Revolution! Let's urge heads of Government in CARICOM states to attend this summit on NCDs