The Healthy Caribbean Coalition welcomes its new Information and Communications Officer, Joan Tull, who has been appointed to spread the word on a special project which takes stock of how far the Caribbean has progressed in tackling non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and how far the HCC has to go.
Tull has been hired through the IDRC funded project The Evaluation of the Port of Spain Declaration: Seven Years On. HCC is one of the partners on this UWI-led, regional, multi-partner project.
The 2007 Port of Spain Declaration, signed by CARICOM Heads of Government, contained a number of ambitious commitments aimed at uniting to stop the epidemic of NCDs in the region. A wide-ranging, in-depth and exhaustive evaluation is now taking place to gauge the impact of the Declaration and to help speed up its further implementation.
Tull will be communicating the details of this evaluation to a broad audience, including ministers, policy makers, civil society, the media, health professionals, the private sector and people living with NCDs. She intends to work closely with HCC partners at the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the Regional Health Communications Network, CARICOM, PAHO and UWI to ensure that the evaluation is placed firmly on the health and development agenda across the region. First results are due next year.
As a media professional, Tull has many years of experience with the United Nations and the BBC. In the course of her career she has worked in a number of countries to develop communication projects, campaigns, plans, launches and advocacy materials. She has also written extensively for UNAIDS, including publications, numerous web stories, high-level speeches, policy briefs, newspaper articles and op-eds, as well producing and presenting radio programmes for the BBC World Service. (HCC news)
