UN high level meeting on NCDs high on agenda
(CARICOM Secretariat)  WHEN CARICOM health ministers meet in Georgetown this week-end, it will be to tackle decisively some pressing issues related to the regional health sector development and its sustainability. Chief among these issues is the Region’s continued fight against Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Health Ministers under the aegis of the 21st Meeting of the Council of Human and Social Development (COHSOD) will not only note the significant progress which has been made both regionally and nationally in implementing the 15-point Port-of Spain Declaration, Uniting to Stop Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases, but will also discuss measures to close the gaps, especially in the areas of care and treatment of persons with NCDs, in addition to the promotion of healthy lifestyles.

The discussion on NCDs assumes even greater significance as the Region prepares for the United Nations High Level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of NCDs, in September. This special meeting came as a result of a resolution introduced by CARICOM Member States for a high level meeting of the United Nations to address the pressing health problem of chronic non-communicable disease, which is one of the leading causes of deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean. NCDs have also placed an enormous burden on the economies of Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

The COHSOD meeting of health ministers will discuss three priority areas that CARICOM Heads of Government want to be included in the outcome document of the UN high level meeting. They are the adoption of appropriate policies to address risk factors, such as tobacco, alcohol, diet and lack of physical exercise; the revamping of health systems and services and the strengthening of systems for access to low cost pharmaceuticals and supplies as well as those for surveillance, and monitoring and evaluation of programmes.

The establishment of the Caribbean Public Health Agency, (CARPHA) also bears relevance to these discussions, as it is the agency which is rationalising the regional health sector, bringing under one governance umbrella five regional health institutions to make them more viable, efficient and effective in regional health services delivery.

Progress towards mobilising resources for full implementation of CARPHA has been slowed because of failure by some member states to sign the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA). Health Ministers at the 21st COHSOD will be expected to agree on the approach recommended by the CARPHA Steering Committee to facilitate the signing of this agreement in order to speed-up the resource mobilisation process.
Among the other issues which will be discussed are the efforts to curtail the outbreak of cholera in Haiti, substance abuse management in the region, the Regional Pharmaceutical Policy and proposals for the establishment of a regional insurance mechanism.

A full slate of CARICOM health ministers from its 15 member states are expected to attend the meeting.