In the Caribbean region, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension, and cancer are becoming more serious, and limited medical personnel and financial resources are required to deal with them. Action plans were developed for each country according to their own situation.
After returning to Japan, a three-day follow-up seminar was held in St. Lucia from February 18 to 20 to boost the Action Plan efforts. 15 trainees from 7 countries participated, sharing each other’s progress, challenges, and innovations, and discussing actionable next steps. Learning from each other based on commonalities among island countries was a great help in promoting practical NCDs measures.
During the three-day seminar, the participants first shared the progress of the Action Plan on the first day and organized the issues and directions for the entire region through lectures by the Caribbean Public Health Organization (CARPHA); on the second day, they visited a primary healthcare facility in St. Lucia and learned about the healthcare delivery system and approaches to residents on the ground. Furthermore, through case studies and workshops on the “Lifestyle Related Diseases Countermeasure Project” being implemented in Fiji, another island nation, the participants analyzed issues at the implementation stage and discussed measures for improvement in their own countries. On the final day, the participants formulated concrete actions to be taken over the next 90 days and brushed up their plans with advice from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and CARPHA.
In the questionnaire, all participants answered “satisfied” or “achieved the objectives,” with comments such as “I gained new perspectives from other countries’ experiences,” “I learned a methodology to start small and increased my confidence in implementing the action plan,” “I reaffirmed the importance of data utilization and phased approach,” “Participants learned from each other, leading to future collaboration,” and “The network was strengthened. The network was strengthened.
Through this seminar, it was reaffirmed that strengthening data-based decision-making, sharing experiences within the region, creating a mechanism to accumulate results, and collaborating with regional organizations are important to advance NCDs countermeasures in each country. It is hoped that the new learning and connections that emerged from this seminar will move NCDs countermeasures one step further in each country and contribute to health promotion in both Japan and the Caribbean region in the future.
PAHO, CARHA, JICA, Ministry of Health of St. Lucia (training participants) speak Experts from Fiji’s “Lifestyle Related Disease Control Project” disseminate good practices in Oceania online in real time.
Visits to nearby clinics operated by the Ministry of Health of Saint Lucia Group work to share mutual insights
© Source JICA