Photo credit: NCD Alliance/Still from Turning the Tide video series
The Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) has led the development of this discussion paper in collaboration with a group of like-minded civil society representatives from other Small Island Developing States (SIDS) regions, and with the support of the NCD Alliance (NCDA), a global network of CSOs also dedicated to NCD prevention and control worldwide.
This discussion paper was developed as a contribution to the High-Level Technical Meeting and Ministerial Conference on NCDs and Mental Health in SIDS, which will be convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Barbados, in January and June 2023 respectively.
This discussion paper outlines the unique characteristics of SIDS and the challenges they face, particularly related to their size, geography, and small populations; constraints for achieving economies of scale due to their small domestic markets, limited resources, and undiversified economies; and threats from the climate crisis and food and nutrition insecurity. These challenges, among others, have been aggravated by the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has put at further risk SIDS’ efforts to mount efficient and effective responses to their disproportionate burden of NCDs, using approaches that are equity- and rights-based, multisector, and multistakeholder.
Civil society is a critical stakeholder, along with government and the private sector free from conflicts of interest, in the response to the major NCDs—heart disease and stroke, diabetes, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, and mental, neurological, and substance abuse disorders (MNSDs). CSOs advocate for and contribute to interventions that address NCDs and their risk factors—particularly poor diets, tobacco use, alcohol use, physical inactivity, and air pollution—as well as the determinants of health—social, economic, environmental, commercial, political, legal, and other non-medical factors that strongly influence health outcomes. In producing this discussion paper, HCC, NCDA, and SIDS civil society representatives analysed the NCD situation in SIDS across various regions, built on global and regional frameworks for the reduction of NCDs and their underlying causes, and identified priorities, recommendations, and key asks for inclusion in the report of the January 2023 High-Level Technical Meeting and the outcome document of the June 2023 Ministerial Conference on NCDs and Mental Health in SIDS.
Read or download the discussion paper.
Authors welcome comments on this discussion paper at hcc@healthycaribbean.org until 28 February 2023.