COVID-19 and NCDs Research Project

Prior to our project, there had been no research conducted in St Kitts and Nevis to explore the impact of the pandemic on those living with NCDs.  Exploring this area is of utmost importance because NCDs are the major public health challenge in the Federation. Specifically, 54% of adults have at least one chronic illness, and prior to the pandemic, the Nevis Island Administration reported that 85% of hospital admissions were NCD-related. Additionally, 83% of deaths in St Kitts and Nevis are due to NCDs. Furthermore, the prevalence of diabetes in St Kitts and Nevis is three times higher than the world average, and our hypertension prevalence is 9% higher than the global average.

With so many people in St Kitts and Nevis being affected by NCDs, it is important to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken to control the pandemic may have impacted those living with these conditions, especially as the measures that were introduced to contain the virus were much stricter than in other countries. By understanding these issues, we can strengthen future responses to emergencies and protect those within our community who may be particularly vulnerable or marginalised when disasters occur.

Our COVID-19 and NCDs project was a 12-month project which ran from the 1^st Feb 2021 to 31^st Jan 2022 and was funded by the Commonwealth Foundation. This project aimed to explore the impact of the pandemic on people living with NCDs in St Kitts and Nevis using a gender lens. As part of this work, we adopted an intersectional approach that aimed to bring some nuance to this research and explore how the dual identities of NCD patient and gender may influence how a person might have experienced both the pre-pandemic and pandemic eras. We also wanted to determine if the pandemic may have exacerbated the challenges that people with NCDs encountered before the pandemic and if the pandemic created or exacerbated any gender inequalities amongst people living with NCDs.

To explore this, we interviewed people living with NCDs and policymakers and based on these interviews we prepared three items:  a research report, an NCD and Gender Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Policies and a digital framework entitled: Embedding people living with NCDs into the Disaster Management Process – A Framework for Policymakers.

As a result of our project, we have been able to provide 12 evidence-based recommendations for the management of NCDs during emergencies. We have also had stakeholder meetings to explore how we can take these recommendations forward and will be exploring the implementation of an NCD and Disaster Management project as well as a project to empower women living with NCDs.

This project has been very significant as it has given us the information that we need as a society to protect one of our most vulnerable communities and ensure they are not overlooked during challenging local, national and international crises.