Strengthening Civil Society’s Contribution to the Regional Response to NCDs
PAHO and HCC Work Together to Provide Civil Society Organizations with Advocacy Resources to Promote Legislative and Policy Changes
The Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) is the only alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs) working on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the Caribbean subregion, where countries face the highest NCD mortality rates in the Americas.
Based in Barbados, HCC is a leading non-profit organization that works closely with regional and international partners, governments, and academia to leverage the power of civil society in the development and implementation of programs aimed at reducing morbidity and mortality associated with NCDs.
Formed in 2008, the HCC emerged from the 2007 Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government Declaration on NCDs. Its membership comprises over 65 CSOs working in health and non-health areas.
The HCC has been in official relations with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) since 2012. Since 2020, this collaboration has been formalized through a series of letters of agreement that have resulted in significant achievements in various priority NCD strategies in the Caribbean. The results can be seen in the outcomes of joint capacity-building initiatives, the development of useful evidence-based resources such as policy briefs, the implementation of effective digital campaigns aimed at building public demand for health-supporting environments, and providing policymakers with tools to implement legislative and policy changes.
Creating healthy environments and making healthy choices available to consumers in the Caribbean through nutritional labeling
One key area of joint work is nutritional labeling. The Caribbean subregion has been engaged in a long and complex process of adopting front-of package warning labels (FOPWLs). As a strategic partner of PAHO, the HCC advocates and builds support for the inclusion of the octagonal FOPWL in the Caribbean Standard for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods.
As part of broader regional advocacy and communication efforts to promote healthy food policies, PAHO and the HCC have led a series of multi-country digital campaigns with regional partners such as CARPHA, UNICEF, the OECS Commission, national CSOs, and almost 1,500 individuals in the Caribbean who have voiced their support for the octagonal warning labels and called for greater transparency and accountability in the process of setting standards.
This unique and special collaboration has also produced several evidence-based materials tailored to support advocacy efforts in national and regional contexts in the Caribbean. These include publications such as the smoke-free series showcasing case studies of tobacco legislation in two CARICOM countries and a report on youth vaping in the Caribbean.
Collaboration with the HCC continues to strengthen civil society's contribution to national and regional responses to NCDs while supporting advocacy efforts to tackle NCDs, obesity, and commercial determinants of health, in addition to conflict-of-interest management in small island developing states, among other issues.
Because of its unique leadership in civil society and its extensive network of partners and capacity for advocacy, the HCC is a key partner in achieving PAHO's goal of reducing malnutrition and preventing and managing NCDs in the Caribbean. Community participation and empowerment are key pillars in primary health care and public health. The HCC exemplifies civil society engagement by continuously voicing its NCD advocacy at the highest policy-making levels within the Caribbean community.
The stature of the HCC at the national, regional, and international levels, along with its convening power and digital mobilization capacity, has contributed to implementing evidence-based policies and NCD programming in the Caribbean. The collaboration between the HCC and PAHO is a model for community participation in the fight against NCDs and their risk factors, for the region and the world.
For more information, see: