BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Caribbean premiers ended their 27th annual summit in Basseterre, St Kitts with an agreement to collectively combat non-communicable diseases and curb serious crimes.

The decision to go on the offensive, methodically, against non-communicable diseases, including obesity and mental illness, would also embrace taxing tobacco products and imposing a ban on smoking in public places.

Further, with studies revealing an alarming high level of obesity, including among the region’s children, Caricom leaders have agreed that policies are to be implemented to:

. make physical education compulsory in schools;

. introduce regulations to standardise healthy meals prepared for school children; and

. have food manufacturers cooperate in the marketing of foods that show low calories and fat content.

Chronic non-communicable diseases – including diabetes, stroke, heart disease and hypertension – kill more people in the Caribbean than HIV/AIDS, according to Caricom’s current chairman, prime minister Denzil Douglas of St Kitts and Nevis.

Mental illness and hypertension resulting from stress have also emerged as major health problems, said Douglas, who has lead responsibility for regional matters among Caricom leaders.

The health challenges were highlighted in a brief by Sir George Alleyne, chairman of the Caribbean Commission on Health and Development, whose report was accepted a year ago at the 26th Caricom summit in St Lucia

Resulting from deliberations last week in Basseterre, Trinidad and Tobago has agreed to host a special consultation to deal specifically with a range of non-communicable diseases.

The region’s health problems, crime and security and plans for hosting the ninth Caribbean Festival of Creative Arts (CARIFESTA) in Trinidad and Tobago, September 22 – October 1, were among the packed agenda issues for last week’s four-day summit.

The communique, issued at the end of the summit, said that a study received from Alleyne on the macro-economic implications of non-communicable diseases showed that the number of deaths resulting from diabetes, hypertension and heart diseases are 10 times higher than the number resulting from HIV/AIDS.

On crime and security, the summit approved a regional strategy for ensuring a “safe and secured environment” for the hosting of Cricket World Cup 2007, the arrangements of which could prove advantageous in the longer term in facilitating intra-regional freedom of movement with the creation of a single economic space.

Components of the strategy include the introduction of a common ‘Visa Policy’ applicable to nationals of some 46 countries, including Caricom states; an Advanced Passenger Information system (APIS); a system of intelligence-sharing and creation of an estimated 400-strong regional Law Enforcement and Military Operational Team.

On the controversial issue of human trafficking and a United States-imposed arbitrary rating system, Caricom leaders agreed that it was necessary to establish a multilateral evaluation mechanism (MEM) that is impartial and transparent, and that such a mechanism could be advanced by deliberations at the wider level of the United Nations General Assembly.

The matter was placed on the summit agenda following strong protest by Belize to a punitive category three rating system by the US that identified it as a source and transit point for human trafficking for the sex trade, and exploitation of cheap labour.

Caricom also agreed to the creation of a technical working group to make specific policy recommendations within a year on a “sustainable approach” to the problems of illegal migration and human trafficking.

The heads of government also agreed to provide financial support for the Regional Endowment Fund for Culture and the Arts as well as to contribute to the financial sustainability of CARIFESTA.

The Bahamas is to host the 10th CARIFESTA in 2008.