Don’t let us Beat around the Bush – we have to deal with NCDs

In the Second Health Care Financing Conference organised by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), Barbados’ leading health financing experts from Barbados and the UWI Health Economics Unit (HEU) shared perspectives on health financing in Barbados across the Caribbean. The Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) will hold its regional meeting on the role of CSOs in Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) in Dominica next month (funded by the NCD Alliance/Medtronic Philanthropy), where the WHO 6 building blocks of HSS, including health financing will be explored.
Conference panelists included: Acting Minister of Health Hon. Donville Inniss; CEO of QEH Dr. Dexter James; President of BAMP, Dr. Carlos Chase: UWI/HEU Health Economist, Dr. Stanley Lalta; and CEO of Sagicor Life Inc. Mr. Ed Clarke. Ed Clarke highlighted the growing economic burden of NCDs citing that 40% of claims in Barbados were NCD related. In closing the CEO, called for urgent action – remarking that ‘NCDs are killing Barbadians…we must attack the cause.
Sagicor has been working in this area in many ways including with civil society through the HCC. The most effective way to address rising costs is to deal with the root cause – and the primary root cause are NCDs. Don’t let us beat around the bush – we have to deal with NCDs’. (PR – HCC News http://www.healthycaribbean.org/)