Minister of Health, the Hon. Dr. Christopher Tufton, is encouraging other Caribbean countries to join forces and replicate the ‘Jamaica Moves’ campaign into ‘Caribbean Moves’, with the objective of reducing the region’s growing rate of persons living with non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Jamaica Moves is part of the National Strategy and Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs, which covers seven main categories of diseases – cardiovascular conditions, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, sickle cell, mental health disorders and chronic renal failure.

Rt. Hon. Andrew Holness, Prime Minister of Jamaica, this morning used the international platform of the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to reinforce the need for financing for Small Island and Developing States (SIDS) given the existential threats climate change poses for these countries.

The Jamaican Prime Minister was speaking at the Combined Forum hosted at the Queen Elizabeth Centre, London, United Kingdom (UK).

  In the margins of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London, the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, and colleague Caribbean heads of government met today, Tuesday, April 17^th, 2018, with H. E. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Rt. Hon. Theresa May, at Downing Street in London, England, where she apologized to them over the Windrush generation controversy.

The critical importance of Drug Observatories (DOs) was underscored at the Opening of the Regional Seminar for Drug Observatories in the Caribbean on 4 April 2018, in Georgetown, Guyana. The importance of international cooperation and synergies in the fight against illicit drugs was emphasized also to the gathering mainly of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) practitioners, policy makers and researchers in the field.

The successor to Cotonou Partnership Agreement between the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States and the European Union must take into account the inherent and exogenous vulnerabilities of the Caribbean Forum of the ACP States (CARIFORUM) as critical elements in the negotiations.

A Statement of the CARIFORUM Council of Ministers said that successor agreement also had to the take into account the development priorities of the ACP, including CARIFORUM’s priorities, and must aim at sustainable, inclusive and resilient development of the ACP regions.