GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The Secretariat of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has reiterated its commitment to continue working closely with Member States, institutions, and other health partners to promote and advocate for health policies that will encourage healthier communities for all citizens in the Region.
On Saturday, the regional body made the statement to mark Caribbean Wellness Day, a landmark activity in the Region for the past 15 years.
Caribbean Wellness Day followed a 2007 decision made in 2007 by the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM, reflected in the Port-of-Spain Declaration “Uniting to Stop the Epidemic of Chronic Non-communicable Diseases,” that the second Saturday in September should be observed annually as Caribbean Wellness Day.
Over the years, Member States have extended their activities to complement health advocacy and promotion strategies in their national health programs.
‘Power Through Collective Action’ was agreed as the overarching theme for Caribbean Wellness Day from 2020-2024.
The CARICOM Secretariat, in collaboration with the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), designed this year’s activities under the sub-theme: “The Care we Need: At Work, At School, At Home’.
The objectives of Caribbean Wellness Day 2023 were to advocate for policies that promote healthy behaviors in Caribbean people at the community, institutional, national, and regional levels; actions that reduce barriers to healthy behaviors for individuals and households; and programs and activities that promote physical activity, healthy eating, mental wellness and health-seeking behaviors within workplaces and schools.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, when the greater proportion of deaths was among people with co-morbidities, especially those related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), we saw the impact of NCDs on our Region. The risk of these diseases is increased by modifiable behaviors, such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol, and unhealthy diets,” said CARICOM.
It added that the residual effects of COVID-19 continue to impact the Region’s health, with mental health care pinpointed as a pressing need for young people.
This year, the Youth Development Programme will implement a mental health initiative to address the issue.
This follows a Regional Mental Health Survey conducted to assess young people’s psychological well-being and includes developing a mental health policy as an agenda item for the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) – Health meeting in 2022.
“We must continue to pursue these and other programs to support the mental well-being of our young people.”
In 2022, the CARICOM Secretariat collaborated with The University of the West Indies and successfully implemented the Food and Nutrition (FAN) Project.
“We intend to leverage the recommendations from this important project to positively impact the health and wellness of the people of our Region.”
“The call to policy action at the Heads of Government level is timely and urgent. We must all take steps to minimize the risk of NCDs through individual and collective action. This will lessen the economic and emotional burdens on our families, communities, and health systems.”
According to CARICOM, the focus on this year’s sub-theme encourages everyone to address home, work, and school as some of the critical environments that influence health.
The regional body also called on member states to create enabling environments encouraging health-seeking behaviors.
“In 2007, we committed, as a Community, to halt the epidemic of NCDs. The need is even more urgent today.”
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