9th Caribbean Alcohol Reduction Day (CARD) 2024

On the 29 November 2024, HCC held it’s ninth annual Caribbean Alcohol Reduction Day (CARD 2024) under the theme, Unmasking Influence: Regulating Alcohol Marketing in the Caribbean. The webinar was attended by over one hundred people. This being the ninth year of implementation of CARD, a day first celebrated in 2016 as an initiative led by the HCC and regional partners with the aim of building public awareness about the dangers of alcohol consumption and building public and policymaker support for the implementation of evidence-informed alcohol policies recommended by PAHO/WHO outlined in the WHO Safer Technical Package and the Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022-2030.

Caribbean Alcohol Reduction Day has been held annually for the past nine years, under the themes and titles: The Misuse of Alcohol (2016); Drink less, Reduce Cancer (2017); Youth: Let’s talk about alcohol (2018); Women and Alcohol (2019); Alcohol and COVID-19 (2020); Live Better, Drink Less, alcohol gets in the way (2021 *in support of PAHO’s regional alcohol awareness campaign under the same banner); The WHO Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022-2030 – Priorities for the Caribbean (2022); and Alcohol Research- Evidence for Action (2023).

The goal of CARD 2024 was to: Promote CARICOM-wide implementation of bans or comprehensive restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotion.

The objectives of CARD 2024 were to:

Reinforce the dangers of alcohol consumption especially among young people and women and the link between alcohol marketing (advertising, sponsorship and promotion) and consumption.
Build public and policymaker awareness of the scope and extent of alcohol advertising, sponsorship and promotion to young people and women.
Highlight regional gaps in alcohol advertising, sponsorship and promotions regulations.
Build public support for bans or comprehensive restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotion especially those targeting young people and women.
Call for multistakeholder action including CARICOM Governments to implement bans or comprehensive restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotion; and the regional alcohol industry to cease alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotion.

Read the HCC CARD 2024 Press Release.