The Healthy Caribbean Coalition was delighted with the endorsement of the 2023 Bridgetown Declaration on Non-communicable Diseases and Mental Health. The Bridgetown Declaration, developed by SIDS for SIDS, was prepared by co-chairs Barbados’ Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva, Matthew Wilson, and Ambassador of Fiji, Luke Daunivalu with inputs from SIDS member states and other SIDS stakeholders including civil society through extensive consultation. HCC and NCD ALLIANCE, in support of the process, developed a discussion paper, and participated in the consultative process.
A Response to the pre-final declaration was also developed which can be found here. HCC applauds this impressive political document, which contains strong language on: commercial determinants of health (CDOH) and associated actions to address the CDOH; strengthening and integration of mental health across NCD services; prioritization of childhood obesity prevention; implementation of WHO, Best Buy’s and recommended interventions; strengthening, climate resilient health systems; innovative NCD financing; meaningful engagement of people living with NCDs, young people, and other key groups; and strengthening pathways and mechanisms for inter SIDS collaboration across all sectors – to highlight a few areas.
The Declaration is a bold and ambitious political action-oriented document, uniquely containing two annexes dedicated to providing important SIDS context and specific calls to action to drive the realization of the Declaration. SIDS Member States including Barbados, Belize, Montserrat and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, have already begun to commit to actions on NCDs and Mental Health. All Commitments can be found here. The Declaration will also feed into the upcoming 2nd UN High Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage, the SIDS 2024 Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda, and the 2025 4th UN High Level Meeting on NCDs – amongst others.
Another perspective on the conference including Q&A’s with some of the delegates and the extensive media coverage can be found on this page SIDS Ministerial Conference on NCDs and Mental Health.
In this video, Ambassadors Luke Daunivalu (Fiji) and Ambassador Matthew Wilson (Barbados) present the 2023 Bridgetown Declaration to WHO Director-General.
Additional resources
Here are some photos from the event
