Introduction to the Special Issue

• Author: University of the West Indies
• Pages: viii-xi

Introduction to the Special Issue

N

oncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as chronic respiratory illnesses,

cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and some cancers, are the leading cause

of deaths and premature deaths globally.1 This is particularly evident

in the Caribbean region, which exhibits the highest NCD mortality rates in the

Americas, with seven countries having rates above 583.5 per 100,000 population.2

The consumption of unhealthy food, the harmful use of alcohol and the use of

tobacco are major risk factors for NCDs, making them largely preventable.3

Law plays a key role in changing this landscape, encompassing legal instruments

such as regulations, statutes and treaties, as well as the public institutions that create,

implement and interpret them. In shaping social and economic interactions that

directly or indirectly aect health outcomes, law not only structures, per petuates

and mediates the social determinants of health—it is itself a determinant of health,

capable of either advancing or hampering better health outcomes for all.4 For this

reason, law is a central component in the global and regional eorts to tackle NCDs.

Building on this premise, for over a decade the World Health Organisation

(WHO) has been urging States around the world to adopt and implement legal

interventions to tackle NCDs risk factors, such as improving people’s diets, as well

as discouraging alcohol and tobacco use. The recommended legal interventions

include, but are not limited to, requirements on packaging and labelling, restrictions

on marketing and advertisement, the adoption of scal measures (i.e. taxation), the

regulation of school environments and smoke-free spaces.5

Similarly, the United Nations’ human rights bodies and authorities have repeatedly

addressed the need to take measures towards the prevention and control of NCDs

on account of their negative implications for human rights realisation, echoing the

WHO and other public health authorities in urging States to adopt specic legal

and policy measures to prevent NCDs.6 NCD prevention and treatment has also

1 World Health Organization, ‘Noncommunicable Diseases: Key Facts’ .who.int/

news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases>.

2 Pan American Health Organization, ‘Noncommunicable Diseases in the Region of the Americas:

Facts and Figures’ (2019).

3 World Health Organization (n 1).

4 Lawrence O Gostin and others, ‘The Legal Determinants of Health: Harnessing the Power of

Law for Global Health and Sustainable Development’ (2019) 393 The Lancet 1857.

5 World Health Organization, ‘Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013-

2020’ (2013), Objective 3.

6 High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, ‘Political Declaration of the