The Use of Law to Advance the Caribbean’s NCD Prevention Agenda – What Role for The Caribbean Court Of Justice?

• Author: The Hon Mr Justice Winston Anderson
• Pages: 29-44

The Use of Law to Advance the Caribbean’s

NCD Prevention Agenda – What Role for The

Caribbean Court Of Justice?

The Hon Mr Justice Winston Anderson1

Abstract

This paper is a modied version of a lecture delivered in September 2022 as

part of The UWI Cave Hill Campus’ Law and Health Research Unit’s public lecture

series. The paper explores legal avenues for action on noncommunicable diseases

(NCDs) prevention and control within the English-speaking Caribbean. It focuses

in particular on the role of the Caribbean Court of Justice both as a nal Court

of Appeal for several Caribbean states and as the guardian and enforcer of the

Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas 2001. The author urges greater use of the courts

to advance the Caribbean’s NCD prevention and control agenda arguing that they

are an important but overlooked and under-utilized tool for realising meaningful

reform in this area.

Keywords

Caribbean Court of Justice; Community law; Common law; International law;

Noncommunicable diseases

Introduction

Amongst Member States of the Caribbean Community (“CARICOM”),

noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death and disability,

driven by the major modiable risk factors of unhealthy diets, tobacco consumption

and the harmful use of alcohol.

2

According to a Pan American Health Organization

(“PAHO”) 2016 study, 76% of the total deaths in the non-Latin Caribbean, (excluding

Haiti) were due to NCDs.3 In the PAHO study, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and

1 Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice and Chairman of the CCJ Academy for Law. Email:

wanderson@ccj.org

The views expressed in this paper are the author’s personal views and not those of the Caribbean

Court of Justice.

2 Pan American Health Organization, NCDs at a Glance: NCD Mortality and Risk Factor Prevalence in

the Americas (PAHO/NMH/19-014 2019).

3 ibid.

30

The Use of Law to Advance the Caribbean’s NCD Prevention Agenda

– What Role for the Caribbean Court of Justice?

diabetes accounted for 30.8%, 17.2% and 10.8%, respectively, of NCD-related

deaths.4 Further, according to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (“CARPHA”),

non-Latin Caribbean countries carry the highest mortality rates in the world due to

cardiovascular disease, accounting for 418 per 100,000 population.

5

In Trinidad and

Tobago, a pilot study published in 2022 found that, as per the nutritional thresholds

set by PAHO, close to 90% of food produced in the region would not fall within the

acceptable limits of sugars, salts, and fats.6

These statistics and the treatment of the issues that underline them, are hugely

signicant to economic productivity and social security within Caribbean countries. By

extension they are critical to prospects for generating wealth and increased standards

of living for Caribbean populations. Evidently, a great menace to public health comes

from NCDs. Eorts and resources must therefore be allocated in accordance with

the level of the threat. Regulatory intervention is necessarily an important aspect of

this societal response and underscores the critical role of prevention (as distinct from

treatment) in mounting a sustainable and eective NCD response. Legal prescriptions

at the domestic level must confront the menace of NCDs to limit or eliminate their

eects and include measures such as marketing and advertising restrictions, taxation

measures and the regulation of school environments, some of which are discussed

later in this issue.7 Domestic courts, including the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)

sitting as a nal Court of Appeal, can potentially play an inuential role in this area

through their adjudication the outer limits of these interventions in cases before them.

Moreover, at the regional level, the armoury of legal responses includes potential

application of Community Law by the CCJ to address NCD risk factors.

4 Pan American Health Organization, NCDs at a Glance: NCD Mortality and Risk Factor

Prevalence in the Americas (PAHO/NMH/19-014 2019).

5 ‘The Caribbean’s Blood Pressure Rates Rank Highest in the Americas ‘(CAPHA Media Articles,

17 April 2021) <https://carpha.org/More/Media/Articles/ArticleID/467/The-Caribbeans-

Blood-Pressure-Rates-Rank-Highest-in-the-Americas> Accessed 21 August 2022.

6 Daphne Ewing-Chow, ‘Raging Non-Communicable Diseases In The Caribbean Have Sparked

A War Between The Food Industry And Public Health’ (Forbes, 30 January 2022) <https://www.

forbes.com/sites/daphneewingchow/2022/01/30/raging-non-communicable-diseases-in-the-

caribbean-have-sparked-a-war-between-the-food-industry-and-public-health/?sh=528353f6ea46>

Accessed 21 August 2022.

7 See for example Rohan Maharaj, Kimberley Benjamin, Trevor Hassell & Maisha Hutton, ‘The

Need to Enact and Strengthen Alcohol Policies in the English-speaking Caribbean’ and Antonius Hippolyte,

‘The Potential Role of International Investment Law in the Commonwealth Caribbean’s NCD Prevention and

Control Agenda’ within this special issue.