Well being managers from throughout the Caribbean gathered for a two-day convention in Grenada on November ninth and tenth, 2023, to look at how well being promotion can proceed to enhance the well being of Caribbean folks.
The Pan American Well being Group (PAHO) occasion entitled ‘Strengthening Well being Promotion: Three A long time after the Caribbean Constitution’, acknowledged the thirtieth anniversary of the institution of the Caribbean Constitution for Well being Promotion in the course of the first Caribbean Convention of Well being Promotion held in 1993.
Among the many targets of the convention was to assessment the present standing of Well being Promotion within the area; to establish the important thing strengths and the pending challenges the Caribbean international locations face, 30 years later, so as to advance in Well being Promotion; to strengthen the significance of integrating Well being Promotion as a key precedence within the political and technical agendas; and to establish alternatives for motion to outline a roadmap to advance Well being Promotion within the Caribbean.
In welcoming individuals to the convention, PAHO/WHO Consultant for Barbados and the Jap Caribbean Nations (ECC), Dr. Amalia Del Riego, thanked the Ministry of Well being, Wellness and Non secular Affairs in Grenada for his or her assist.
“This assembly is to have fun our achievements, take a look at the unfinished agenda and extra importantly to maneuver ahead within the growth of modern approaches. So PAHO/WHO will proceed to be an vital companion with you on this journey.”
Dr. Del Riego outlined the complexity of the well being panorama within the area, highlighting the burden of non-communicable illnesses (NCDs) pushed largely by the excessive charges of hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular illnesses, the burden of infectious illnesses such
as vector-borne diseases, pandemics, the prevalence of psychological well being points that are on the rise and the challenges being brought on by local weather change.
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in widespread lack of life and astronomical prices in all nations. Nevertheless, there have been classes discovered and The Minister of Well being, Wellness and Non secular Affairs, Senator, The Honourable Jonathan LaCrette, mirrored that the COVID-19 pandemic introduced a possibility for international locations to prioritise well being.
Minister LaCrette described COVID-19 as “permitting us the chance to place pen to paper and take out the well being file from beneath the pile the place it was and put it on prime from a world perspective.”
The Minister acknowledged that “all throughout the globe, well being is being championed,” and expressed pleasure since “the one manner our economies are going to be sustained is that if we’ve wholesome and productive residents.”
He added: “So we’ve converged on Grenadian soil this morning in order that we will construct the mandatory methods and although they is perhaps contextual whenever you return to your respective international locations, from a regional perspective we will converse with one regional voice because it pertains to what well being promotion should appear to be in our varied international locations.”
Dr. Gerry Eijkemans, PAHO/WHO Director of the Division of Social and Environmental Determinants for Well being Fairness, reiterated “that well being promotion is a useful instrument, as holding our folks wholesome is crucial factor we will do.”
Commenting on different concerns affecting well being, she added: “Everyone knows that even when we wish to dwell wholesome and we wish to train, or if we wish to eat wholesome meals, whether it is too costly, or if the atmosphere just isn’t protected sufficient, or if we don’t have time as a result of we have to work a number of jobs and maintain youngsters, the approach to life follows the atmosphere and insurance policies that we set.”
‘Strengthening Well being Promotion: Three A long time after the Caribbean Constitution’ was attended by Ministers of Well being, everlasting secretaries, Chief Medical Officers, well being promotion officers and PAHO officers from the Workplace of Barbados and the Jap Caribbean Nations (ECC), Washington DC, Belize and Suriname.
Roughly 40 individuals attended the convention, representing Anguilla, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Suriname, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, The Turks and Caicos Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and Washington DC.
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