NCDs central to COHSOD meeting 

Non-communicable diseases will be high on the agenda at the 30th meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD). Taking place at PAHO Headquarter in Washington on 24-25 September, one of the key elements of the meeting will be to agree on revised priorities for the 2007 Port of Spain Declaration on NCDs and support for their implementation.

A report on the wide-ranging evaluation of the Port of Spain Declaration will be presented by Dr Alafia Samuels, the head of the evaluation project and Director of the Chronic Disease Research Centre. She will set out the major research findings and   ways of accelerating action in the NCD response, as well as reveal a set of ‘asks’ specific to Ministers of Health to strengthen the challenge to chronic diseases on a national and regional level.

The meeting will also formally explore ‘New Initiatives for Preventing NCDs’ and ‘Treatment: A Rational Approach for CARICOM’. In addition COHSOD will endorse the new Caribbean Cooperation in Health IV strategy and focus on a variety of health and development issues, such as reviewing and giving policy directives on priority health system initiatives.

Watch this space for COHSOD updates.

For more information on the Port of Spain evaluation click here.

For details on the involvement of our partner, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition, in COHSOD and beyond click here