Montserrat is among the countries targeted in a project named “Caribbean Moves,” to reduce high incidences of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
The project is supported by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) in partnership with the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA). This project will build on the momentum of ongoing national programmes, intended to increase physical activity and healthy eating and curb the high rates of NCDs in the region.
The Bank has committed in excess of 175,000 US dollars in financial and technical resources to develop Caribbean Moves, and support successful implementation. The Bank’s support of the initiative is a response to these implications and the burden NCDs pose on CDB’s Borrowing Member Countries:
- There is a high cost of diseases such as diabetes and hypertension in on the island.
- NCDs account for many deaths linked to common modifiable risk factors, including physical inactivity which the Caribbean Moves project will address.
- NCDs have also amplified the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and, in turn, the pandemic has exacerbated the NCD-burden in the region.
Caribbean Moves was launched recently and will support health promotion activities in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St Vincent, and the Grenadines and the Turks and Caicos Islands.