Teva will still pursue launching a biosimilar of AbbVie's blockbuster arthritis drug Humira next year despite a crowded marketplace, Chief Executive Richard Francis said on Wednesday. Reuters Health Information

Guyana has agreed to go ahead with the next step of China’s physical infrastructure-centered Belt and Road Initiative, according to a joint statement issued by the two countries to mark the end of President Irfaan Ali’s one-week official visit to that Asian giant. “The Guyana side expressed willingness to discuss and conclude the Joint Action ...

HCC is pleased to share this new resource: Advancing Universal Health Coverage in Caribbean Small Island Developing States – HCC Advocacy Priorities for the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage. Building on the HCC. First United Nations High-level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage. Technical brief for Caribbean countries – a contribution from civil society developed in 2019, the HCC is again seeking to contribute to advances in UHC in the Caribbean region by providing updated Advocacy Priorities and Advocacy Asks for the Second UNGA HLM on UHC, taking into consideration developments since 2019. The Second UNGA HLM on UHC is scheduled for 21 September 2023.

This Second HLM on UHC provides yet another opportunity for UN Member States, including small developing states in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), to agree on actions to reduce health inequities—differences in health outcomes among individuals and groups that are unjust, unfair, and avoidable—and leave no one behind as they make progress in sustainable development and in their obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to health and other human rights.

The 2023 HCC Advocacy Priorities and Asks are aimed at supporting civil society UHC advocacy in lead up to and post the High Level Meeting. They have also been presented for review, discussion, and consideration by CARICOM Heads of State and Government, Ministers of Health, and Ministers of Foreign Affairs; CARICOM Permanent Missions in New York and Geneva that will participate in the negotiations to develop the Political Declaration of the Second HLM on UHC; government sectors including, and outside of, health; civil society organisations; and other key stakeholders in CARICOM Member States, particularly those working in NCD prevention and control.

Download the report

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Preparations are underway for the construction of a modern waste water treatment plant for Georgetown and bring an end to the dumping of that type of waste into the Demerara River and Atlantic sea, Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal said Saturday. He said the US$36 million effluent treatment plant, which would probably be ...

President Irfaan Ali on Thursday appealed to Canada to set up a training institution in Guyana to train Guyanese as nurses for the local, Caribbean and Canadian markets, as the South American nation grapples with a serious shortage of that category of health workers due to migration. “We encourage Canadian accredited institutions to establish their ...

Faced with a serious shortage of nurses in the public health system, President Irfaan Ali on Wednesday announced that government was turning to Cuba for an emergency supply of that category of health workers while Guyana accelerates the training of surplus nurses. “We are in discussion now, for example, with Cuba,” he said, adding that ...

The Caribbean Heart Institute’s (CHI) team led by CEO and Guyanese born heart surgeon Dr. Gary Stephens, successfully conducted an open-heart surgery utilising cow tissue to reconstruct a patient’s heart, the institution said Tuesday. “This procedure is the first-ever open heart surgery of its kind, to be performed in the country,” CHI added. CHI explained ...

Guyana is still awaiting a reply from the United States Department of Agriculture to several submissions aimed at having that North American country lift an almost six-year old ban on catfish, according to Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha. With Guyana having recently updated its previous submission, he said the Ministry of Agriculture was awaiting word from ...

Cigna Group's Express Scripts pharmacy benefits unit will add three biosimilar versions of AbbVie's blockbuster arthritis treatment Humira to its list of preferred drugs, the company said on Monday. Reuters Health Information

Mobilising for 2025 – A Caribbean Civil Society NCD Forum

July 6-7, 2023
Courtyard Marriott Hotel | Bridgetown, Barbados

Background

This meeting: Mobilising for 2025 – A Caribbean Civil Society NCD Forum represents a reconvening of face to face meetings of HCC member organisations and partners. The aim of the Forum is to bring together HCC member civil society organisations (CSOs) and key stakeholders to discuss NCD (including Mental, Neurological and Substance Abuse Disorders – MNSDs)[1] prevention and control priorities in the Caribbean as we reflect on where we are including current  progress and challenges and map a path forward to place the region back on track to meet SDG NCD Target 3.4: Noncommunicable diseases and mental health: By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.

Much work is needed as the most recent 2022 NCD Progress Monitor showed the Caribbean was significantly off track across most areas including risk factor interventions (WHO Best Buys and Recommended Interventions) and treatment indicators (management guidelines and drug therapies).  As a result, the NCD-related health and socioeconomic toll on our fragile economies continues to rise as we face the interconnected challenges of, climate change and food insecurity, exacerbated in our Small Island Developing States (SIDS) settings. From June 14-16, high-level officials from across the SIDS will convene in Barbados for the SIDS Ministerial Conference on NCDs and Mental Health where they will unite in their endorsement of what is anticipated to a be a bold action-oriented Political Outcome Document which recognizes the key health and development threats of NCDs, commercial determinants and climate change and presents concrete actions to tackle these threats as a SIDS community through a highly anticipated SIDS NCDs Roadmap.

The diverse array of civil society actors impacted by NCDs – including those representing: all chronic diseases, key groups such as people living with NCDs (PWLNCDs), young people, related lived experiences, climate change, food systems, and academia – have and continue to play a critical role in driving and supporting rights-based, equitable, evidence-informed NCD responses across the region.

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