Despite recent progress towards eliminating trans fat from food, some five billion people remain unprotected from its harmful impacts, thus increasing their risk of heart disease and death, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Barbados government says policies to remove industrially produced trans fatty acids from local foods should be in place by December next year.

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – The Government of Japan has provided Haiti emergency aid of US$3-million in response to its ongoing cholera outbreak.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The New Zealand-based Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI), is warning that dementia in the Caribbean is set to rise by 155 percent to nearly 750,000 cases by 2050.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) says it has developed a digital platform to bring telehealth services to remote populations in Latin American and Caribbean countries, making telemedicine the “new normal” for healthcare workers and patients managing chronic diseases.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the Martinique Cancer Registry have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) to work together to strengthen cancer surveillance and cancer control in the region.

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – Nearly four months after cholera reappeared in Haiti, the number of victims has risen to 496. 

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley on Thursday assured there was no need to change COVID-19 protocols, impose new restrictions, cancel Carnival or close the country’s borders despite an increase in cases and hospitalizations.

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada – The Executive Director of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CAPHA), Dr. Joy St. John, Thursday said that several COVID-19 variants that are causing surges in the United States, the United Kingdom and China have “been circulating in the Caribbean since last year”.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Guyana has taken steps to advance the ‘One Health’ initiative with the signing of an agreement with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

GENEVA – The United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) says three countries from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) will fall short of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target for under-five mortality.

NASSAU, Bahamas – The Bahamas government says it has no plans to impose COVID-19 testing requirements for travelers coming from China, which has in recent months recorded a surge.