Conflict of Interest and Interference in Food Policy in the Caribbean Webinar.
On Friday November 25th 2022 HCC held a webinar to discuss the experiences and lessons learned in addressing conflicts of interest and industry interference in NCD policymaking in the Caribbean with a focus on healthy food policies.
The HCC has been working with regional and international partners to build capacity to identify, prevent, mitigate and manage conflicts of interest and to counter industry interference in NCD policymaking with a focus on healthy food policy. In 2020 and again in 2022, Vital Strategies awarded HCC with grants to support regional digital communication campaigns which build public support for healthy nutrition policy by highlighting the harms of ultra-processed foods and the negative impact of COI/ industry interference in healthy food policy making. These campaigns are complemented by related HCC work including the development of COI tools and COI training for key audiences such as CSOs and public sector actors and tracking and countering of industry interference with support from partners including PAHO and the Global Health Advocacy Incubator.
The Make It Make Sense (MIMS) digital campaign was originally launched by the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) in collaboration with the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Barbados (HSFB), the Heart Foundation of Jamaica (HFJ) and the Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network (JYAN), to build public and policymaker support for healthy nutrition policy, by highlighting the harms of ultra-processed foods and the negative impacts of conflict of interest and industry interference in healthy food policy making.The digital campaign was executed from May 12th – June 30th 2022 across 13 CARICOM Member States, utilising Youtube, Google Ads and Social Media (Facebook and Instagram) during its implementation, and exceeded all projected key performance indicators (KPIs).
The webinar has the following objectives:
- To promote the Make it Make Sense campaign.
- To discuss the experiences and lessons learned in addressing conflict of interest and industry interference in NCD policymaking in the Caribbean and Latin America with a focus on healthy food policies.
Panelists
Sir Trevor Hassell
President, Healthy Caribbean Coalition
Maisha Hutton
Executive Director, Healthy Caribbean Coalition
Dr Kenneth Connell
Vice President, Healthy Caribbean Coalition
Danielle Walwyn
Advocacy Officer, Healthy Caribbean Coalition & Coordinator of Healthy Caribbean Youth
Nicole Foster
Law Lecturer & Head, Law and Health Research Unit, Faculty of Law, UWI Cave Hill Campus; HCC Policy Technical Advisor
Tamie Marie
Communication Consultant, Healthy Caribbean Coalition
Barbara McGaw
Project Manager, Global Health Advocacy Project, Heart Foundation of Jamaica
Professor Jeff Collin
Global Public Health Unit, School of Social & Political Science, University of Edinburgh
Annalee Gray
Nutritionist / Researcher, Caribbean Institute for Health Research (CAIHR)