Locked in what appears increasingly, to be an uphill battle against childhood obesity, and what has been described as the “regional epidemic” of non-communicable diseases (NCD), the Caribbean appears to be preparing for its latest pushback against these twin scourges that lie close to the top of the region’s key health concerns.
A week ago, what has been described as a “ground-breaking campaign” was launched by a partnership of organisations, namely the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission, and the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), designed to mount responses to two life-threatening maladies. Titled “Now More Than Ever: Better Labels, Better Choices, Better Health”, the campaign will focus on raising awareness of children’s right to nutritious food and mobilising public and policymaker support for adopting octagonal warning labels on the front of packaged products to facilitate wiser food-purchasing decisions. The initiative will be rolled out across all CARICOM member states on both conventional and media platforms between now and April 17.
