At the First WHO Global Meeting of National NCD Programme Managers and Directors took place 15-17 February 2016 in Geneva, Switzerland and the Caribbean was represented by Dr. Tamu Davidson (Director Non-communicable Diseases and Injuries Prevention, MOH Jamaica) and Dr. Leslie Rollock (Acting Senior Medical Officer (NCDs), MOH, Barbados) and NCD Focal points from Suriname and Guyana.
With the support of the NCD Alliance, the HCC was represented by Executive Director Maisha Hutton.
At the multi-stakeholder forum dinner and breakfast (co-organised by the NCD Alliance, World Economic Forum and the WHO), Mrs. Hutton shared the successes, challenges and lessons learned from HCC’s 2015 National NCD Commissions Report.
The HCC was joined by other non state actors including the World Cancer Research Fund International, Alzheimer’s Disease International, World Economic Forum, BUPA, IDF Young Leaders, YP-CDN, GAVD, The World Diabetes Foundation, The Tanzania Diabetes Association, and NCD Child. The multistakeholder forum was extremely well attended by civil society demonstrating a strong commitment to a multisectoral collaborative approach to supporting the implementation of the four time-bound national commitments for 2015 and 2016 included in the 2014 UN Outcome Document on NCDs.
It is hoped that the networking space provided through the multistakeholder forum will be a catalyst for enhanced and expanded national partnerships critically necessary as countries aim to strengthen national responses in lead up to third High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on NCDs in 2018 and in preparation for achieving 25*25 targets and the 2030 agenda. The HCC is committed to working with National NCD Focal points in the Caribbean and has already initiated a platform aimed at supporting meaningful, action-oriented dialogue between focal points and CSO actors in the region.
See more images from the WHO/Focal Points meeting below.