Loop- The high prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the Caribbean – such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer – is exacerbating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is also hindering the subregion’s progress towards achieving sustainable development due to their multiple health, economic and social consequences, according to the authorities, representatives of international organizations and specialists participating Thursday in a virtual event organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

The event was held ahead of the 20^th meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC), to be held on Friday.

“Not only does the COVID-19 pandemic continue to rage in the Caribbean,” Executive Secretary of ECLAC Alicia Bárcena affirmed, emphasizing that it is “one of the subregions of the world with the highest prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).”

Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that NCDs are the main cause of death in the subregion’s countries, ranging from 57 per cent in Haiti to 83 per cent in Barbados.

In each Caribbean country, more than half of all deaths annually can be attributed to non-communicable diseases, which also contribute significantly to a disability, Bárcena warned.

The pandemic has aggravated the risks that people with non-communicable diseases face: not only do they continue to be at greater risk of dying or suffering severe illness from COVID-19 infection, they also have been affected by interruptions in health care due to services being overburdened, Bárcena also explained.

In this context, the high-level United Nations representative called for accelerating vaccination efforts. The rate of full vaccination in the Caribbean amounts to 35.2 per cent, with great heterogeneity between countries. This percentage, she indicated, is below the global rate (39 per cent) and that of Latin America (47.5 per cent).

“The entire region of Latin America and the Caribbean should strengthen production, distribution and access to medicines and vaccines. To achieve this, on September 18, ECLAC presented the Plan for self-sufficiency in health matters requested by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). We are moving from design to implementation of the plan, with focal points in all the countries and various meetings planned for the coming months. We hope the Caribbean will join us,” Bárcena stated.

In his remarks, Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Information Technology in St. Vincent and the Grenadines Camillo Gonsalves expressed appreciation for the opportunity to address the problem of non-communicable diseases at a time when all Caribbean countries are fighting the pandemic and many of their ministers and leaders are talking about climate change and the subregion’s future in the framework of the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 26).

“Non-communicable diseases are responsible for 6 of the 10 main causes of death in the subregion” and they entail a heavy economic cost for governments, due to high health expenditures, as well as for people, Minister Gonsalves said.

NCDs have a disproportionate impact on people living in poverty, which means that addressing them constitutes a development challenge for the Caribbean, which is also true for other phenomena such as climate change, he noted.

“Non-communicable diseases are within our control, they are preventable,” Minister Gonsalves acknowledged, affirming that current policies are not effective because they are not sufficiently focused on prevention, nor do they include cross-sector and coordinated approaches.

The specialists on the panel of Thursday’s event called on governments to invest in a comprehensive approach to NCDs, with a focus on strengthening primary care and preventing risk factors such as an unsuitable diet, physical inactivity and tobacco and alcohol abuse. They also urged for taking growing mental health problems into consideration.

Bárcena contended that it is critical to achieving greater equity in access to essential medicines, reduced waiting times and reduced out-of-pocket payment burdens for people, while also expanding partnerships with academic institutions in the Caribbean and reinforcing inter-agency collaboration. The idea of using taxes on unhealthy products is also generating interest and should be carefully weighed using sound socio-economic analysis, she added.

The ECLAC top official also stressed that to procure a resilient post-pandemic recovery, Caribbean countries need a healthy and productive. The GDP of the Caribbean dropped by 7.7 per cent in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, compounding the high rates of indebtedness faced by the subregion’s countries. ECLAC estimates that in 2021, the Caribbean’s GDP will only grow by 4.1 per cent.

“By taking an economic approach to the analysis of the NCD problem, we hope that policies aimed at promoting health and preventing disease will not only be cost-effective but that they may also be cost-saving, thereby making government health expenditures more effective,” Bárcena emphasized, adding that this is a problem for society as a whole, which must be addressed beyond the health field.