Our Food, Our Health, Our People: Accelerating Healthy Food Policies to Tackle NCDs

HCC virtual conference, Our Food, Our Health, Our People: Accelerating Healthy Food Policies to Tackle NCDs. The conference brought together public, private, and civil society actors, as well as persons living with NCDs (PLWNCDs) and young people collectively exploring the varied and complex dimensions of our regional food system, specifically how the food system can be reshaped to create healthier food environments, secure healthy food supplies, safeguard and foster healthy food policymaking, and support informed civic action.

With almost 600 registrants, the conference garnered attention from across the globe with attendees from the Caribbean region to as far as Ghana and Spain.

Sir Trevor Hassell, President of the HCC and Maisha Hutton, Executive Director, officially opened the meeting followed by greetings from Dr. Renata Clarke, Subregional Coordinator for the Caribbean FAO and Mr. Dean Chambliss, Subregional Program Director, PAHO who shared their organizational perspectives on tackling NCDs through coherent healthy food policies. The feature address was delivered by Dr. Carla Barnett, CARICOM Secretary Designate who signalled that NCDs will be a priority under her leadership at CARICOM and moreover Dr. Barnett committed to ‘broadening the range of community stakeholders, including civil society that are kept abreast of Community work and whose advice will help improve the formulation of Community policy’.