ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (CMC) — The legendary former West Indies cricket captain, Sir Clive Lloyd, Sunday appealed to Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders to focus on combatting prostate cancer as they had done to non-communicable diseases in the past.

Lloyd, who was one of two people to receive the region’s highest award, the Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC) during the official ceremony of the opening of the 47th regional meeting, said he hoped that the same emphasis that was being placed on addressing non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes is given to prostate cancer.

International data shows that the Caribbean has one of the largest age-standardised prostate cancer incidences.

“Can I, therefore, make a plea to the community and relevant officials that this matter becomes the focus of urgent attention and action,” said Lloyd, who captained the West Indies between 1974 and 1985.

The 79 year-old Guyanese born said he hoped that Caricom health ministers would pay attention to prostate cancer, adding that he could not recall “that much has been said about it in the region”.

“If I am correct, let what I say today be a call to action because every one in four, we do contract this illness and a lot of our people are dying and dying needlessly,” he said, adding “we need men to go and get tested” to curb the number of deaths from prostate cancer.

He told the ceremony that there are now many other improved ways of testing men over the age of 40 for prostate cancer that are more precise than blood tests, including salivary tests.

Lloyd also during his address proposed that the region organises an annual Caribbean cricket fundraiser to garner much-needed cash to respond to the impact of hurricanes and other disasters.

“The Caribbean region can organise a major cricket event and the best players from all over the world should be able to take part in a game per year. I want it to be called the Caricom Day of Cricket where we can generate quite a lot of funds so that even if we don’t have a hurricane or two for the year, the money that we have there can accrue some interest,” he said.

Lloyd said that even if there are no storm impacts, the money could be spent on addressing other problems.

“I hope that we can get this going, get it off the ground because it will be a very important game because the money that we can accrue will be very, very important for the rest of the Caribbean,” he said.

In recent times, several Caribbean countries have been hit by hurricanes that are much more ferocious resulting in deaths and millions of dollars in destruction.

With the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane season, which ends in November, just four weeks old,  Hurricane Beryl, a category five storm, had on July 1 left a trail of death and destruction as it made its way through the Grenada’s dependencies of Carriacou and Petit Martinique, and those of St Vincent- Union Island, Bequia, Mayrou and Canoaun.

Jamaica was also heavily impacted by Beryl and regional leaders say the hurricanes are as a result of the impact of climate change and have been blaming the more developed countries for the situation.