On August 9th 2019, the Ministry of Health in St. Kitts and Nevis, in collaboration with the Office of the Prime Minister, officially launched St. Kitts & Nevis (SKN) Moves.

This initiative is part of the Caribbean Moves program which seeks to tackle non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by focusing on healthy eating, physical activity, and age-appropriate health checks.

August 9th 2020, marks the first anniversary of the launch and the Ministry of Health’s Health Promotion Team is engaging in a week of activities from Saturday 8th to Friday 14th August 2020.

Events include:

• SKN Moves Health Walk – Saturday, August 8th at 5:30 am – Caribbean Cinemas to Frigate Bay Lawn
• SKN Moves Virtual Fitness Fest – Monday August 10th – Friday 14th at 6am & 6pm
• SKN Moves Health Fair – Friday, August 14th from 9am – 4pm- Independence Square

Everyone is invited to take part in this celebration so please do come out, take part and get moving. We’ll see you there!

On Friday 9^th August 2019, St Kitts and Nevis joined the Caribbean Moves family with the launch of SKN Moves.

Caribbean Moves is an initiative launched in 2018 that is based on the successful Jamaica Moves campaign and focuses on physical activity, healthy eating and age-appropriate health checks.

SKN Moves follows the launch of Barbados Moves and TT Moves at the end of last year all with the aim of tackling non-communicable diseases, which is now the major health challenge facing the Caribbean.

The launch of SKN Moves took place in Independence Square in Basseterre and was a whole-day event featuring health stalls, healthy food, exercise challenges and free health checks.

The formal launch ceremony began at 4pm and was chaired by Dr Hazel Laws, Chief Medical Officer, with remarks given by Senator Wendy Phipps, Senator with responsibility for health, and Dr the Honourable Timothy Harris, the Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis. Additionally, special guest Dr the Honourable Chris Tufton, the Minister of Health in Jamaica, attended and discussed Jamaica Moves and its expansion into schools and workplaces.

With 83% of deaths in St Kitts and Nevis being attributed to non-communicable diseases, an effective approach to facilitating healthy lifestyle changes amongst the public is much-needed.

SKN Moves’ focus on physical activity, healthy eating and annual health checks can create a healthy environment that reduces the public’s risk of developing NCDs such as diabetes and heart disease.

During the formal launch ceremony, Dr Timothy Harris explained how they’ll be measuring the success of the campaign. He informed the audience that their objectives are to facilitate

• A 10% reduction in physical inactivity by 2020
• A 5% increase in the consumption of fruit and  vegetables
• A 5% increase in the number of people accessing one medical check-up a year
• An overall 10% reduction in the prevalence of NCDs by 2025

SKN Moves started this journey with a focus on physical activity and on Saturday 10^th August at 5am, a health walk was organised to highlight the importance of keeping fit and active.

We look forward to seeing what the future holds for SKN Moves and how the Ministry of Health aims to build on the three focus areas of the campaign. We wish them every success with this initiative and encourage everyone to get involved.

The Caribbean Moves campaign is growing with a third Caribbean country launching their version of this initiative. On 7^th December 2018, Trinidad and Tobago joined the Caribbean Moves family with the launch of TT Moves at the Brian Lara Promenade, in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh explained that this campaign is just one of their approaches to reduce the incidence of non-communicable diseases in their Caribbean nation. He stated that this campaign is a continuation of their plan to move the public from an unhealthy to a healthier lifestyle, explaining that:

“When I say a healthier lifestyle, I mean how we eat, how we exercise, controlling our stress levels, moving away from this, as social-media electronic toys which shackle us to a device and we sit down.

“We have to start to exercise some more. Simple walking, simple jogging. We have to bring into our diets healthier options like fruits. Today we are giving out fruits and fruit trees. We want people “to gradually change their lifestyles, not change today for tomorrow.”

The launch of TT Moves follows the launch of Barbados Moves in October 2018 with more Caribbean nations expected to join the movement in 2019.

Caribbean Moves is an initiative launched in 2018 that is based on the successful Jamaica Moves  campaign and focuses on physical activity, healthy eating and age appropriate health checks. They’re in the process of establishing a secretariat and their remit is to develop an implementation schedule, coordinate activities and strengthen existing work in the Caribbean Region.

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Picture Credit: Anil Rampersad, pictured is  Terrence Deyalsingh,  the Minister of Health for Trinidad and Tobago 

Following the launch of Caribbean Moves, a new initiative based on the successful Jamaica Moves campaign, the Ministry of Health and Wellness in Barbados launched their Barbados Moves campaign.

The launch took place on 20^th October 2018 and was led by Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic, Barbados’ Minister of Health and Wellness. In attendance was Dr Christopher Tufton Jamaica’s health minister, who said:

‘Caribbean Moves’ is an attempt to mobilise the region one country at a time, and one person at a time through taking personal responsibility for your health and by doing the things that are responsible for a healthy life.

“Finally, it’s about uniting the Caribbean through one message, one method, one approach and by extension strengthening us as a people.”

Barbados Moves will form the island’s national approach to tackling non-communicable diseases and will focus on three key areas, similar to Jamaica Moves,  which are physical activity, healthy eating and knowing your health status.

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Image Credit: Barbados Moves (Instagram)

On 27^th September 2018, Caribbean leaders hosted a breakfast meeting at the UN High Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in New York. The theme for this meeting was “Moving the Caribbean Towards Healthier Lives – Step It Up!”

Chaired by Dr Timothy Harris,  the Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis, leaders used this meeting to announce the launch of Caribbean Moves, an initiative that aims to re-energise health promotion efforts across the Caribbean through creative  and innovative partnerships.

Caribbean leaders recognised that progress has been made in tackling NCDs but with the Caribbean’s mortality rate for NCDs being the highest in the Americas, a more coordinated approach is needed. Caribbean Moves aims to achieve this.

Caribbean Moves will build on the very successful Jamaica Moves campaign which focuses on physical activity, healthy eating and age appropriate health checks.  The Jamaica Moves campaign is led by Dr Christopher Tufton, Jamaica’s Minister of Health, who is a very active participant in the Jamaica Moves campaign. He said of Caribbean Moves:

“This programme is intended to scale up the efforts of ongoing national programmes for increasing physical activity and healthy eating across the Caribbean. Among other things, Caribbean Moves will galvanise countries under one vision but each countries project will be unique fostering a cultural and social movement for regular physical activity within the Caribbean.”

Over the next few months a secretariat will be established for the Caribbean Moves initiative and their remit will be to develop an implementation schedule, coordinate activities and strengthen existing work in the Caribbean Region.

We look forward to seeing the Caribbean Moves initiative develop and are currently working on our own efforts to tackle NCDs in St Kitts and Nevis through a new piece of work  we are undertaking with the FIT Wellness Centre in Nevis. More information about this project will be available soon.

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Picture Credit: CARICOM