Back to School, Back to Health: Nothing at School Should Encourage Unhealthy Choices – Let’s Do Better for the Children!
On Thursday, September 11th, 2025, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition hosted a regional webinar entitled Back to School, Back to Health: Nothing at School Should Encourage Unhealthy Choices – Let’s Do Better for the Children!
The virtual event attracted over 200 registrants, including civil society leaders, government officials, youth advocates, and media representatives from across the region.
The webinar reintroduced the “Let’s Do Better for the Children” campaign, relaunched on August 18th with powerful back-to-school messaging. The campaign calls for stronger protections against the marketing of ultra-processed products (UPPs) – including sweetened beverages – to children, particularly in and around schools.
The webinar covered the following objectives:
- To reintroduce the ‘For the Children’ campaign, with a spotlight on updated and new materials.
- To expose and reframe industry-sponsored activities—such as school donations and
sponsorships—as strategic marketing tools that grant the food and beverage industry undue influence and actively undermine school nutrition policies and children’s health. - To explore rights-based, culturally relevant, and financially sustainable strategies to eliminate unhealthy food marketing in and around schools, while fostering strong alliances that protect school environments from corporate interference and promote the wellbeing of children.
Press Coverage:
- Barbados Today – Businesses urged to promote healthy eating among youth (Published September 11, 2025)
- Barbados Today – Teens now suffering from ‘adult’ illnesses (Published September 11, 2025)
- Guyana Times – Caribbean teens facing alarming rise in adult-onset health conditions (Published September 14, 2025)
Panellists & Presenters
