‘Port of Spain Declaration’ to ‘Bridgetown Declaration’: Regional Health Diplomacy in Action
摘要
The Caribbean region, with a population of over 17 million, has the highest burden of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the region of the Americas, where diabetes and hypertension have an economic impact of around 5–8% of the region’s gross domestic product. However, the Caribbean region has shown significant commitment to preventing and controlling NCDs since 2001. The successful rounds of negotiations for regional health have led to the formulation of the Port of Spain Summit Declaration (POSSD). This Summit in 2007 was the first in the world where the Heads of Government focused on preventing and controlling NCDs with a clear road map for policy implementation, collaboration, and collective action. Regional health diplomacy (RHD) has made great effort and impact to achieve the highest level of political commitment, financing mechanisms, and regional leadership to monitor and evaluate policy actions. Similarly, in 2023, the Bridgetown Declaration (BD) laid strong initiatives to address the social, environmental, economic, and commercial challenges contributing to NCDs and mental health conditions. Therefore, this chapter aims to highlight the role of Caribbean RHD in driving the POSSD and BD to global-level policies. This chapter is divided into four main sections, which address: (1) an overview of the CARICOM region and RHD; (2) the challenges faced by the CARICOM region and the threats posed by Climate Change and the growing burden of NCDs; (3) the evolution of POSSD and the BD and (4) the role of RHD and regional policies and their impact on global platforms.