A two-member team led by Hon. St Clair Prince, Minister of Health, and Dr. Roger Duncan, Medical Officer of Health, is now in Barbados for a high-level technical discussion on Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and Mental Health.
Ministers of Health from Small Island Developing States (SIDs) around the world, as well as other high-level health authorities, are attending the four-day Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/World Health Organization (WHO) meeting.
Among the topics to be covered are the effects of NCDs, different governments’ initiatives to combat them, and the effects of climate change on NCDs and mental health.
NCDs, according to Minister Prince, are the greatest public health hazard of our day, and the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is putting a strong emphasis on reacting to them.
The Ministry of Health has set 2023 as the year for a greater emphasis on NCDs and mental health.
Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases account for more than 60% of deaths in St Vincent and the Grenadines each year.