About the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) - Healthy Caribbean Coalition

The Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) was informally established in 2008, arising out of the 2007 Declaration of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) on non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The HCC was then officially registered as a not-for-profit organisation in 2012. The HCC is the only Caribbean NCD alliance of over 100 health and non-health civil society organisations (CSOs).

The HCC works closely with regional and international leaders in NCD prevention and control to leverage the power of civil society by strengthening and supporting its membership in the implementation of programmes aimed at reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with NCDs.

The HCC has the following organisational affiliations:

Official Relations with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) – 2012-2016/ 2016 – 2019/ 2019 – 2022/2022-2024
MOU with the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA)
Organization in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council since 2017
Member of the NCD Alliance (NCDA)
Member of the World Heart Federation (WHF)
Member of the World Obesity Federation (WOF)
MOU with Sagicor Life Inc.
CIBC/FirstCaribbean

Mission

to harness the power of civil society, in collaboration with government, academia, and international partners, and private enterprise as appropriate, in the development and implementation of plans for the prevention and management of chronic diseases among Caribbean people.

Vision

The reduction of death and disability from chronic diseases among people in the Caribbean.

Values or Guiding Principles

The Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) carries out its mission with the minimum of structure and bureaucracy; guided by the themes of action, inclusivity, simplicity and flexibility. It is an inclusive Caribbean civil society network providing opportunities for civil society and public, private organizations both nationally and regionally, and their members, with core values of transparency and integrity, to come together in response to the pandemic of NCDs. The HCC focuses on population-based public health programmes. It is an alliance that upholds and pursues the strongest democratic principles and it gives significant consideration to equity issues, favouring the more vulnerable and disadvantaged. It provides encouragement towards the exchange of experience and knowledge through the provision of an environment that enhances personal and professional development that empowers people.

Transformative New NCD Agenda HCC Action Plan 2021-2022

The Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) Action Plan 2021-2022 represents the HCC’s contribution to implementation of the Transformative New Agenda for the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases (TNA-NCDs) in the Caribbean during, and in the aftermath of, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

The HCC developed the TNA-NCDs as a call to action for innovative, bold approaches to NCD reduction in the Caribbean region to address the inequities, health system gaps, and implementation deficits laid bare by COVID-19. The TNANCDs embraces new approaches to accelerate NCD reduction in the Caribbean, based on principles of equity and human rights, and enhancement of the region’s human security and human capital. It provides impetus for social activism that puts persons living with NCDs (PLWNCDs) at the heart of a new framework to which governments, civil society, the health-supporting private sector, and development agencies can contribute, collaborating to step up reduction of the region’s crushing burden of NCDs.

Strategic Plan 2017-2021

The HCC Strategic Plan 2017-2021 : Enabling Caribbean civil society’s contribution to national, regional, and global action for NCD prevention and control, was published in February 2017. View/Download the HCC Strategic Plan 2017 – 2021 here.

The Plan has five strategic pillars: accountability, advocacy, capacity development, communication, and sustainability. These five strategic pillars and their associated high level objectives which provide the basis for the development of annual operational plans with specific outputs, deliverables (products and services), activities, inputs, and resource.

These strategic pillars and their associated high-level objectives provide the basis for the development of annual operational plans with specific outputs, deliverables (products and services), activities, inputs, and resource needs, as well as a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework.

The HCC 2017-2021 Strategic Plan charts a course for the work of the Coalition in the coming five years. The streamlining and prioritising of key actions will lay the foundation for HCC’s contribution to the region’s achievement of national, regional, and international NCD targets, reduction of inequities, and, ultimately, reduction in NCD-related premature mortality, as we navigate through the post-2015 development era.

In the Caribbean, the five major NCDs – cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and mental health diseases – and the five common risk factors – tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, and air pollution – are the leading causes of death and illness. The region has the highest mortality from NCDs in the Region of the Americas⁽¹⁾; they cause 3 of every 4 deaths. Forty percent of deaths due to NCDs occur prematurely, in persons under 70 years of age, and most premature deaths are caused by heart attack, stroke, and diabetes, followed by cancer. Hypertension is the leading contributor to heart attack and stroke, and diabetes prevalence in the region is twice the global average⁽²⁾. Mental health disorders contribute to significant morbidity in the Caribbean; a review of mental health in disaster situations in the region presented data – albeit limited – on psychotic, mood, and anxiety disorders; suicide; and dementia ⁽³⁾

The predecessor to the 2017-2021 Strategic Plan was published in December 2012, following the successful Rallying for Action on NCDs conference which took place in Jamaica, May 27-29, 2012.

A Civil Society Strategic Plan of Action for Prevention & Control of NCDs for countries of the Caribbean Community 2012-2016.

View/Download the HCC Strategic Plan 2012-2016 here.

Legal status

The HCC is a not for profit organisation registered in Barbados, governed by rules and regulations determined in a transparent and inclusive way by its members.

Organisational Structure

The HCC is a regional organisation with a Secretariat located in Barbados. Our core personnel consists of a full-time Executive Director, a part time Digital Content Coordinator, a part time Social Media Content Creator. In addition, we have interns and volunteers, short- and long-term project consultants and project assistants.

The work of the HCC is governed by a Board of Directors who provide strategic and organizational oversight and guidance. Board members are all passionate experts in the field of NCD prevention and based throughout the Caribbean. They are elected every year at an annual general assembly. The board is chaired by Sir Trevor Hassell, President of the HCC and founder. Sir George Alleyne, Director Emeritus of PAHO is Patron of the HCC, and Dr. James Hospedales, Past Executive Director Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), is Special Advisor to the HCC.

Details on the Board can be found here.

Membership

Membership of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition presently consists of more than 100 Caribbean based CSOs. Membership is open to all voluntary associations and informal networks in the Caribbean and extra-regionally where individuals and groups engage in activities of public consequence, and have similar objectives, goals and interests as the Healthy Caribbean Coalition. Members include nongovernmental health organizations, professional health and other associations, faith based organizations, neighbourhood organizations, cooperatives, charities, unions, social movements, and special interest groups.

Institutions/organizations with links to the tobacco industry and those that take part in activities and have goals deleterious to public health are not accepted as members of the coalition. No fee is attached to being a member of the HCC.

1. PAHO. Health Situation in the Americas: Core Indicators 2016. Washington DC: PAHO/WHO, 2016. http://iris.paho.org/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/31289/CoreIndicators2016-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
2. Port of Spain Declaration Evaluation Research Group on behalf of PAHO/WHO and CARICOM. Evaluation of the 2007 CARICOM Heads of Government Port of Spain Declaration. September 2016. http://www.onecaribbeanhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ACCELERATING-ACTION-ON-NCDS-POSDEVAL-Report.pdf.
3. Abel W, Baboolal N, and Gibson R. The epidemiology of mental health issues in the Caribbean. Chapter 5 in PAHO. Mental health and psychological support in
disaster situations in the Caribbean: Core knowledge for emergency preparedness and response. Washington, D.C.: PAHO, 2012. http://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_topics&view=readall&cid=7295&Itemid=40870&lang=en.