On 1st November 2018, the Ministry of Health in St Kitts held a public consultation on SSB taxation. During this consultation they provided information on their proposed approach to sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) taxation. Lake Health and Wellbeing supports the government’s plans to tax SSBs and has published a position statement outlining our views on this topic.

SSB Taxation

The taxation of SSBs has been utilised as a method of tackling obesity by creating a deterrent which leads to a reduction in the purchase and consumption of SSBs.

Taxation of SSBs has three important aims. The first it to incentivise manufacturers to reformulate or replace their products to create healthier options, the second is to deter the public from purchasing and consuming SSBs by making them unaffordable and the third is to raise funds from the tax revenue that can be used to support initiatives aimed at improving the health of the public.

Caribbean Children’s SSB Consumption

Children in the Caribbean drink large quantities of SSBs putting them at risk of becoming obese or overweight.  Caribbean children’s frequency of consuming SSBs was found to be amongst the highest out of 187 countries. Furthermore, teenagers (12 to 15-year olds) in Barbados, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago reported drinking SSBs three times or more a day, and in St Kitts and Nevis it was found that children consumed at least one carbonated soft drink a day.

SSB Consumption and Obesity

This high consumption of SSBs has been linked to weight gain and obesity in adults and children, and obesity or being overweight increases a person’s risk of developing a number of non-communicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease and cancer.

Obesity is a significant challenge in St Kitts and Nevis. A PAHO report revealed that 33% of secondary school children in the twin island state were overweight and 14% were  obese. More recently, in 2017, a UNICEF report published that 26% of children in  St Kitts and Nevis are obese. When looking at adults in St Kitts and Nevis, the  PAHO study reported that 34% of adults were overweight and 45% were obese.

Tackling Obesity

In order to address the high rate of obesity in St Kitts and Nevis, a number of strategies are required and reducing the public’s consumption of SSBs by introducing a tax is just one of many approaches.

Our Position Statement

To find out more about the St Kitts Ministry of Health’s approach to SSB taxation and our position on this approach. You can download our position statement below.

Document: Taxing SSBs in St Kitts: A Position Statement

Published by: Lake Health and Wellbeing

Date: 15th November 2018

Download here: SSB Taxation Position Statement

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References

1. UNICEF, Situation Analysis of Children in the Federation of St Kitts and Nevis, UNICEF Office for the Eastern Caribbean Area and the Government of St Kitts and Nevis, Christ Church, Barbados, 2017
2. PAHO, Health in the Americas, 2012: St Kitts and Nevis, PAHO, 2012
3. Xuereb, G. (2017). Sugar Sweetened Beverages Taxes in the Caribbean – Progress and Challenges.
4. Yang, L. et al. (2017). Consumption of Carbonated Soft Drinks Among Young Adolescents Aged 12 to 15 Years in 53 Low- and Middle-Income Countries.  American journal of public health, 107(7), pp 1095-1100.

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

Our Chronic Disease Self-Management Course which was due to start on 2^nd October 2018 has been postponed until November. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused and will release the November dates soon.

If you would like further information or would like to book a space on to the course, please email events@lakehealthandwellbeing.com

In the meantime, below is video that discusses the benefits of attending a chronic disease self-management course.

At the thirty-ninth regular meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) on 4-6^th July, leaders made a commitment to tackle non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the Caribbean.

Six priority areas were endorsed. These included:

• Establishing and maintaining a smoke-free status for the region
• Implementing policies geared to preventing childhood obesity including health-promoting school environments and improving front-of-package labelling
• Promoting the elimination of cervical cancer
• Support for mitigating post-disaster vulnerabilities related to NCDS, particularly nutrition, treatment and care
• Increasing international financing and technical support
• Strengthening accountability through national coordinating mechanisms

Leaders of the Caribbean discussed the upcoming UN High-Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases which will be held in September. The theme of this meeting is: scaling up multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral responses to the prevention and control of NCDs. It was felt that CARICOM member states should be well-represented at this meeting especially as, in 2007, CARICOM led the way on NCDs by hosting the first ever summit on NCDs.  This put the spotlight on this area leading to NCDs being included on the UN Development Agenda.

About CARICOM

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) consists of a group of 20 states, from the Bahamas in the north to Suriname and Guyana in the south, working together under four main pillars:  economic integration, foreign policy coordination, human and social development and security. You can find out more about the work of CARICOM here.

More Information

For more information about the 39^th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM held in July you can visit their website here or you can watch the videos below.

Opening Ceremony of the Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government

Closing Press Conference of the Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government

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Picture Credit: CARICOM

Wednesday 4th July 2018

Today’s episode is the final episode in our childhood obesity series and our volunteers Vikell and Marecia discuss the solutions to childhood obesity.

Lake Health and Wellbeing in collaboration with the Department for Gender Affairs in St Kitts are aiming to provide support to men in St Kitts with chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure and lung disease. This support will be delivered through a free 6-week self-management course, starting on 2^nd October, that will provide men with the information, skills and knowledge to live well with their health condition.

Our project will focus on men, to ensure that men in St Kitts who suffer from a chronic disease receive the support that they need as research suggests that men are less likely to access health services.

The course being utilised for this project is the Stanford University Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP). This is an evidence-based prevention and health promotion program that addresses common issues faced by people with chronic conditions. The program will provide patients with information on appropriate exercise, diet, managing symptoms, medication usage, dealing with side effects and improving communication with healthcare providers, friends and family. Classes will be held at the National ICT Centre on the Bay Road and will be facilitated by trainers certified by the Stanford University Chronic Disease Self-Management Program.

The program has been implemented in 19 countries around the globe showing a number of benefits including:

• Improved wellbeing
• Improved health of patient
• Fewer hospitalisations
• Fewer days spent in hospital

If you or anyone you know is living with a chronic disease or caring for someone with a chronic disease then this course may be of interest to you.

For more information and to register, please visit Eventbrite,  email events@lakehealthandwellbeing.com or call 668 1518.

Want to be kept up-to-date on events like this? Then please subscribe to our newsletter here.

A couple of weeks ago government representatives from across  the world met in Montevideo, Uruguay for the World Health Organisation’s Global Conference on NCDs (Non-communicable diseases, e.g: cancer, diabetes,  cardiovascular disease etc).  The objectives of the conference were: to guide countries on how to reach sustainable development goal target 3.4 by 2030; to launch a new set of global initiatives to help countries accelerate progress in tackling NCDs; to share and exchange experiences; and to discuss how the health sector can be a key example of the benefit of enhancing policy coherence to achieve the sustainable development goals.

Making A Commitment to Tackle NCDs

At this conference governments endorsed the Montevideo Roadmap 2018-2030 on NCDs as a Sustainable Development Priority. By endorsing this roadmap they have made a commitment to take significant steps towards reducing the premature deaths due to NCDs by a third. They recognised that NCDs are one of the major challenges of the 21^st century and that progress to tackle them has been uneven and insufficient. The roadmap states that 15 million 30 to 69 year olds per year die from a NCD and 80% of these premature deaths occur in developing countries.  There are a number of challenges associated with tackling NCDs and with this is mind they committed to the following actions:

• Reinvigorate political action
• Enable health systems to respond more effectively to NCDs
• Increase significantly the financing of national NCD responses and international cooperation
• Increase efforts to engage sectors beyond health
• Reinforce the role of non-State actors
• Seeks measures to address the negative impact of products and environmental factors harmful for health and strengthen the contribution and accountability of the private sector and other non-State actors
• Continue relying on WHO’s leadership and key role in the global response to NCDs
• Act in unity

Our Thoughts

We were delighted to see world leaders come together and make this commitment and look forward to seeing these actions being taken forward.

We’re particularly happy to see that efforts will be made to engage with a variety of stakeholders. As a small organisation that is passionate about improving the health and well-being of our community we do get frustrated at the lack of engagement with grassroots organisations. We have many times reached out to local and national governments with our enthusiasm and ideas, ready to play a role but have received lukewarm responses or no responses at all. We hope that governments will see the value of working with small organisations and we have been grateful for the funding provided by Croydon Council, Sports England, Macmillan and Eli Lilly for some of the work we’ve conducted on NCDs. We look forward to continuing to work in this area and making our own small contribution.

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You can read the complete Montevideo Roadmap below.

Yesterday, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition launched an online portal of all the non-communicable disease  (NCD) commissions in the Caribbean. The portal gives information on all active boards, groups or bodies that have been established to coordinate their countries’ plans for the prevention of NCDs. The aim of this portal is to raise awareness of the work being conducted on NCDs so that those interested in this area can learn more about the work being conducted in the Caribbean, and by whom.

The development of the portal was developed to support one of the recommendations of the 2007 Port of Spain Declaration: Uniting to Sport the Epidemic of NCDs which stated that:

 “We strongly encourage the establishment of National Commissions on NCDs or analogous bodies to plan and coordinate the comprehensive prevention and control of chronic NCDs.”

This portal highlights the progress that governments across the Caribbean have made in taking forward this recommendation and the Healthy Caribbean Coalition will keep the portal updated to ensure it gives a true reflection of the work being conducted across the Caribbean.

For more information about the portal and to access it, please click here