Open Letter to CARICOM Heads of Government

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HCC OPEN LETTER

TO CARICOM HEADS OF GOVERNMENT

AT THE 49TH REGULAR MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE OF HEADS OF GOVERNMENT JULY 6-8, 2025, MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA

June 20, 2025

Dear Honourable Heads of Government and State of CARICOM, On the occasion of this, the Forty-Ninth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) calls on you, Caribbean Heads of Government and State, to indicate your commitment to addressing one of our region’s most pressing development issues – noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – by attending the 4th United Nations High-Level Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health (HLM4). The HLM4 will be held on September 25th, 2025 in New York during the 80th Meeting of the UN General Assembly under the theme “Equity and Integration: Transforming Lives and Livelihoods through Leadership and Action on Noncommunicable Diseases and the Promotion of Mental Health and Well-being.”

The HLM4 comes at a critical time when globally and in the Caribbean, rising rates of NCDs – namely cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and mental health conditions – are vastly outpacing prevention and control efforts. Eighteen years ago, CARICOM Member states played an important role in catapulting NCDs onto the global health agenda with the seminal Port of Spain Declaration. This was followed by the 1st UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs in 2011 which was attended by a significant number of CARICOM Heads who declared in a strong, unified voice that the prevention and control of NCDs was of the highest priority for the region. Almost 20 years after the 1st UN High-Level Meeting, progress in NCD prevention and control is uneven and the 2024 Port of Spain Grid and the 2025 WHO Progress Monitor both reflect a region grossly off track to meet critical regional and global NCD targets including the Sustainable Development Goal 3.4. NCDs are the leading cause of premature deaths in the Caribbean where 40% of NCD deaths occur prematurely before the age of 70 years. As unnecessary death and disability continue to rise, so do the associated costs of preventing and controlling these diseases which place a significant burden on the limited economic resources of CARICOM States – a crisis worsened by the impact of food and nutrition insecurity and climate-related disasters. Within the context of aging and contracting populations and increasing economic and climate vulnerabilities, bold action on NCDs focusing equally on prevention and treatment and care is critical to promoting a secure and sustainable future for the Caribbean.

In 2018, in lead up to the 3rd UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health, at the Thirty-Ninth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, CARICOM Heads endorsed regional NCD advocacy priorities and commended civil society organisations for their efforts in NCD prevention and control. CARICOM Heads then went on to host a highly successful side-event on the day of the HLM3 attended by the Director General of the WHO and the Secretary General of CARICOM.

At this 4th UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health; in recognition of the continuing and untenable socioeconomic burden of NCDs in the region; and CARICOM’s legacy of leadership; we, the 85+ members of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition ask CARICOM Heads of Government and State to:

1. Commit to continued leadership on NCD prevention and control and commit to attendance at the 4th UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health (HLM4) on September 25th, 2025 in the official Communiqué emerging from the Forty-Ninth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
2. Support the twelve Caribbean civil-society led advocacy priorities for inclusion in the official Communiqué from the Forty-Ninth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community and in the HLM4 Political Declaration.
   1. Engage communities and put people first in the NCD response.
   2. Address the commercial determinants of health and conflict of interest.
   3. Accelerate the implementation of healthy food environment environments.
   4. Promote full implementation of the WHO FCTC and the WHO MPOWER measures.
   5. Enhance physical activity across multiple settings.
   6. Accelerate the implementation of WHO SAFER alcohol harm reduction measures.
   7. Expand, integrate and strengthen mental health services.
   8. Eradicate cervical cancer, and reduce illness and premature death due to breast, prostate and colon cancers.
   9. Strengthen health systems using equity-, rights-based, and climate-resilient approaches.
   10. Breakdown silos, foster networking enhance collaboration.
   11. Mobilize investment, with resource allocation and mobilization strategies for sustainable financing of NCD prevention and control interventions.
   12. Strengthen accountability, mechanisms, metrics and related data collection, analysis, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting at all levels.
3. Support one or more CARICOM Heads of Government or State to have a lead role in at least one of the multi-stakeholder panels at the HLM4.
4. Support the hosting of a high-level side-event on the margins of the HLM4 led by CARICOM Heads of Government and State as was done in past UN HLMs on NCDs.
5. Endorse the inclusion of a representative from a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) representing people living with NCDs and a youth representative in country delegations to the HLM4 in recognition of the whole-of-society response to NCDs.

CARICOM has been globally recognised for its leadership on NCDs, including most recently with the 2023 Bridgetown Declaration on NCDs and Mental Health. As Member States meet in New York on September 25th, 2025 for the HLM4, let us collectively demonstrate the leadership of CARICOM. Now is the Time to Lead Again.

Dr. Kenneth Connell, HCC President On behalf of the Board of Directors and members of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition 

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