As part of the NCD Alliance Program ‘Strengthening Health Systems, Supporting NCD Action’, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) in partnership with PAHO/WHO and CARPHA is holding today a Caribbean Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) meeting in Dominica.

The goal of the meeting is to encourage a greater understanding of what HSS means in the Caribbean and provide a platform for evidence-informed CSO-led NCD advocacy within the context of HSS.

The meeting, facilitated by Ministry of Health of the Commonwealth of Dominica & The Dominica Cancer Society, builds on the momentum created by the HCC NCD Regional Status Report released in March 2014, which reported gaps in health systems negatively impacting on NCD prevention and control.

It brings together representatives of Caribbean civil society organisations; regional governments; and private health providers, to discuss HSS under the cross cutting themes of integration, patient empowerment and multi-sectoral collaboration. It aims to:

1. Share experiences and lessons learned in the delivery of NCD care provided by the public health, private health and civil society sectors of the community.
2. Showcase best practices in HSS and NCDs.
3. Identify and discuss HSS barriers and challenges with regards to NCDs.
4. Make recommendations for the way forward in addressing HSS barriers and building upon lessons learned and best practices.
5. Build CSO advocacy capacity around HSS.
6. Support a CSO ‘Call/Declaration’ for improvements in HSS as an important part of addressing NCDs.

Read more here: http://www.ncdalliance.org/healthy-caribbean-coalition

@HealthCaribbean @PAHO @CARPHA1