Wednesday, 2 April 2014
HCC frowns on advertising of unhealthy foods to children
“Nowhere in the Caribbean are there policies that speak to the advertising of unhealthy foods to children.”
Professor Sir Trevor Hassell, President of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) noted the above, as he outlined some of the main findings of the recently launched Regional Status Report on NCDs (Non-Communicable Diseases) in the Caribbean. The 80-page Report which was sponsored by the HCC, was launched in Trinidad and Tobago on March 20, during the NCD Child Conference event held there at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
The one of a kind Report gives an assessment of what has been achieved in the fight against the NCDs epidemic in the Caribbean, what has not been achieved, and it also outlines what needs to be done to slow the epidemic.
Speaking at press briefing held at Sagicor Headquarters, Wildey, St. Michael, Barbados on Monday to discuss the Report and other landmark HCC initiatives, HCC President Professor Sir Trevor Hassell, noted that the key findings in the Report suggest that there are no national policies against advertising of unhealthy foods to children or against the harmful use of alcohol. Also, no CARICOM country has national policies or major initiatives aimed at reducing salt intake of the population, which has been shown to reduce blood pressure, which is a major cause of heart disease for Caribbean people.
“We also found in the status Report, that with respect to alcohol abuse, there are very few policies, if any at all, around issues of alcohol abuse. Furthermore, few countries have got policies around population salt reduction. This is an important issue, because, as I have said on many occasions, excessive salt or sodium chloride intake contributes significantly to the large numbers of hypertensive persons we’ve got in Barbados, and as you know, hypertension leads to heart disease,” Hassell revealed.
Hassell noted that in terms of inadequacies, the Report highlights the absence of up to date management guidelines for the treatment of chronic diseases. Against this background, he said, there is a “call to action” from the Report, which speaks to recommendations that should be adopted throughout the Caribbean.
The Report advocates for a ban on or at the very least a limit on the marketing of energy dense, high salt foods and beverages to children. It also calls for a reduction in salt consumption and a reduction in the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (including fruit juices), as well as a ban on the use and sale of transfats in Caribbean countries.
The Report, amongst other things, also calls for the development of policies on physical activity and the development, implementation and monitoring of national strategies on the promotion of physical activity.
The full Report can be viewed at www.healthycaribbean.org. (RSM)
Record participation in C’bean tsunami warning exercise
The level of participation in the tsunami warning exercise that took place on 26 March in the Caribbean was unprecedented, compared with similar exercises in 2011 and 2013.
Organised by the UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), it revealed the commitment of the countries concerned and a growing awareness of the tsunami threat in the region.
A total of 31 Member States, which include Barbados and 16 of the territories in the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions, participated in the third regional tsunami exercise, CARIBE WAVE/LANTEX 2014.
In addition, 230 000 people participated in the test, a 75% increase compared to 2011 and 300% more than in 2013. National Tsunami Warning Focal Points, other International, State, Territorial and Local Emergency Management Organisations, academic institutions, governmental agencies, businesses, health facilities, media and individuals, also took part.
“I welcome the success of this tsunami warning exercise. It demonstrates the maturity of the Tsunami Early Warning System implemented in the region in 2005,” said UNESCO Director General, Irina Bokova.
“Co-operation between States and specialised institutions, and the preparation of local populations, is crucial, to address tsunami-related risks, mitigate their impact and save lives. The extent of participation in the test and the smooth execution of the simulation is therefore cause for celebration.”
Two scenarios were developed for this year’s exercise. The goal was to test the readiness of the countries in the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions to respond to a distant tsunami.
Alert messages
Previous experience underlines the crucial importance of rapid transmission of information to limit damage and save lives. In addition to the transmission of alert messages, Member States could choose to participate in various activities, including seminars, video conferences, simulations and evacuation exercises.
Over the last 500 years, 75 tsunamis have occurred in the Caribbean. This figure represents about 10% of the entire number of oceanic tsunamis in the world during that period. Tsunamis have killed more than 3 500 people in the region since the mid-19th century. In recent decades, an explosion in population growth and the number of tourists in coastal areas have further increased the region’s vulnerability. (TL/PR)
CIMH receives $10M boost
The Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) has secured over $10 million from the United States Government to assist in the upgrading of its building and teaching facilities, as well as to invest in the development of rainfall, drought and temperature forecasting products that will build the region’s resilience to climate change, and empower stakeholders across various sectors to make more informed decisions.
News of this came at the launch of the CIMH “Programme for building regional climate capacity in the Caribbean” which took place at its Husbands, St. James, Barbados location this weekend.
Present for the occasion were several past principals of the Institute, His Excellency Larry Palmer, US Ambassador to Barbados, Elsworth Ried, Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Chairman of the CIMH Board of Directors, as well as representatives from US AID and the World Meteorological Organisation.
Work to be done
The investment, the largest received to date by CIMH, will be disbursed over a period of 3 years, according to its principal Dr. David Farrell.
Dr. Farrell, a Hydrologist by profession, said that the school welcomed the investments and would use it to build on projects which it had envisioned, and in some cases, already had begun to roll out. The programmes included developing climate and weather products that would cut down on the length of time it took to present forecasts. This, he said, would have positive implications for early warning systems. He also stated that some of the funds would also go towards the upgrading of CIMH’s facilities and to the training of persons, both professional and at the community level.
Dr. Farrell said that there was still considerable work to be done in the region with regards to preparedness ,and, using the example of droughts, said that in 2015 the region should not still be trying to figure out if a drought was occurring or not. He pointed to the period of 2009 to 2010 when the region “woke up one day and realised that we were in a severe drought... there is no reason for [that to occur again] and we are hoping that the investment will cover that,” he said.
He further noted that the institution would be pushing to enter into more collaborative efforts with US institutions to produce climatological products and services, including seasonal forecasting, which can be used in sectors such as agriculture and energy. (RS)
Capacity building programme launched for CIMH
The United States Government continues to emphasise its commitment to working with the region to strengthen it against the impact of climate change.
US Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Dr. Larry Palmer, noted this weekend that this commitment to co-operation was part of President Obama’s Global Climate Change Assistant Programme, which aims to strengthen national and regional institutions around the world as we collectively strive to address the serious impact of climate change.
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| US Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Dr. Larry Palmer. |
Speaking at the launch of the capacity building programme for the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH), in which that entity has received an investment of over $10 million through the US AID development programme, the Ambassador remarked that the impacts of climate change were expected to worsen in the coming years, meaning the likelihood of more storms, hurricanes, droughts and other extreme weather events to which the region was already vulnerable, and of which we currently had limited ability to predict.
He said: “The availability of accurate, consistent data on how the climate is changing in the Caribbean, represents a huge and critically important need, as does establishing stronger capabilities to analyse climate data and produce information that people can use to understand what is coming, to effectively prepare for it and to respond strategically.”
Collecting data
Ambassador Palmer stated that the US Government intended, through its partnership, to strengthen the capacity of CIMH and national institutions across the region, to monitor the changing climate and to convert data into products that would better inform decision-making in climate sensitive sectors such as tourism, agriculture and fishing.
He said that a Caribbean Environmental and Empowerment Computational Centre would also be established to provide regional scientists with the resources they needed to better understand and predict climate change impact.
“This information will feed into early warning systems so that people in the region can be alerted earlier and receive more reliable information... before [any event] hits,” Palmer said. (RS)
B’dos to secure LIAT shareholder benefits
Barbados will soon reap greater benefits for being the main shareholder of regional airline LIAT.
Saying that there were already several LIAT offices operating out of the island, Barbados’ Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Richard Sealy, revealed that the Barbados government would be looking to increase the presence of the airline here.
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| Barbados’ Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Richard Sealy, speaking to media. |
He stressed that the island could not continue to bear the major brunt of the burden in carrying the airline for the region without reaping more benefits.
“We anticipate that given the fact that the Barbadian taxpayers are being asked to shoulder the majority of the burden where LIAT is concerned, it is only natural that as you heard only recently, that it is being put on a firmer sounder economic footing, that there are decisions that will have to be taken with respect LIAT that will result in an increase in activity at this airport as far as LIAT is concerned. We cannot ask the children of Barbados to walk around with the majority of that debt over their head and yet we do not enjoy commensurate benefits,” he continued.
“I am very happy to hear that Prime Minister (Baldwin) Spencer does not have to lay off anybody in Antigua and doesn’t plan to lay off anyone, but if he can make that brag certainly we are not going to simply take all the burden for the entire Caribbean without getting some of the benefit. There is plenty of space here at the Grantley Adams International Airport,” Sealy pointed out. (JMB)
Caribbean model of youth entrepreneurship development further endorsed
THE Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Youth Entrepreneurship (CEYE) based in Barbados, working throughout CARICOM and in some Latin American countries, has won the prestigious Juscelino Kubitschek award.
The team of the CEYE has been working virtually for over ten years to help countries in CARICOM and elsewhere, including Latin America, to develop their entrepreneurship programmes and build their entrepreneurship culture.
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| Marcia Brandon (second from right) in Bahia Brazil, Costa do Sauipe with the JK award at the annual meeting of the Boards of Governors of the IDB and the Inter-American Investment Corporation. She shared the moment with (from left to right) Martin Cox, Director, Ministry of Finance & Economic Affairs; Cheryl Morris-Skeete, Counselor, Barbados, IDB; and Juanita Thorington-Powlett, Permanent Secretary, Investment. |
Brandon is a well-known name in entrepreneurship, youth and civil society as well as “getting things done” circles. She is recognised as the guru of youth entrepreneurship development in the Caribbean and has helped and continues to help the Caribbean to build a strong, sustainable culture of entrepreneurship from the roots up.
The CEYE leader says she cannot thank her team enough for their support, also thanking the IDB for the high recognition and all the people who have supported and bought into the vision and partnered with the CEYE over the years. She admits that the work that she and her team undertake is not for the faint of heart, it takes long hours, a love for people and the region, as well as self-belief.
“It is not a quick fix, it is development and it takes time, it takes lots of sweat equity, it takes energy, and anyone working in this field has to walk the talk. As Barbados’ Dame Billie Miller notes, people are now standing up for themselves and not depending on others to do for them.”
The Juscelino Kubitschek award encourages self-reliance.
Kubitschek was a prominent Brazilian politician who was President of Brazil from 1956 to 1961.
His term was marked by economic prosperity and political stability, being most known for the construction of a new capital, BrasÃlia. A leader who favoured long-term planning and who set high goals for Brazil’s future, Kubitschek is viewed inside the country as the father of modern Brazil. He stands among the politicians whose legacy is held most favourably.
Kubitschek had a vision for integration through joint North-South endeavours to raise the standard of living in Latin America, which he dubbed “Pan-American Operation”.
That initiative led to the creation of the Inter-American Development Bank in 1959, to provide regional financing for economic, social, and institutional development.
No quick fixes
US Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, His Excellency Larry Palmer, is calling on the region’s tourism developers to not treat the industry as a short-term cash cow to the detriment of its sustainable integrity.
Speaking at the launch of the new Sustainable Destinations Alliance for the Americas (SDAA) which was launched last week Thursday at the Warrens offices of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, Palmer suggested that while tax and other concessions might entice investors to set up shop in one’s country, there were other ways in which governments could bolster their tourism product and make it more attractive, without having to erode their tax base.
He noted that improving the investment climate, whether that meant better contracts enforcement, Customs facilitation, or improved rankings in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index, could help the region’s tourism sectors and create a level playing field.
Stressing on the importance of the region being able to differentiate itself in the market base via a carefully maintained sense of place, the Ambassador submitted that doing so was, in the long run, an effective tool for attracting high-value tourists and staying competitive.
He was of the view that maintaining ecological integrity was of particular importance to the region and being able to do such would help maintain a powerful element of product differentiation.
Ambassador Palmer praised stakeholders involved in the formation of the SDAA, a private-public regional partnership, noting that great advantages were to be had when a well-planned approach to tourism development was delivered. One such advantage, which he spent some time addressing, was intra-regional travel growth.
“Growth in the size of the middle-class throughout South America, especially Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru, represents an important opportunity to attract regional tourism; those who would appreciate the shorter distances and cultural familiarity,” Palmer opined.
He also encouraged the region to stay the course with a sustainable approach which emphasised authenticity, adding that doing this would help attract high-value tourists at a volume more in line with the region’s carrying capacities and also help in the differentiating of our destinations. (RS)
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