The Caribbean sub-region is facing increasing levels of overweight, obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), while at the same time coping with a persistent problem of acute and chronic undernutrition and deficiency diseases which are affecting some countries and some sectors of the population, particularly population groups under vulnerable conditions. The prevalence of obesity in adults in the Caribbean increased from 15.2% in 2000 to 24.7% in 2016, well above the global prevalence of 13.1%.

Objective

To assess the ability of low-income families to obtain a standard basket of healthy foods before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

The costs of 191 food items were averaged from supermarkets, municipal markets, wholesalers, and community food outlets in high- and low-income areas in three Caribbean countries. The analysis compared foods not only by selecting high- and low-ranked commodities but by the proportions of those foods, by food group, that will be required to meet a low-cost, nutritionally balanced diet of 2 400 kcal.

Objective

To evaluate how sociodemographic factors and food intake affect survey respondents’ perceptions of the quality of their diet.

Objective

To describe features of nutritional interventions implemented in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the past 20 years.

Methods

A rapid scoping review was conducted by searching PubMed and Web of Science databases for interventions conducted in SIDS that sought to improve the nutrition of their populations between 2000 and 2019 inclusive. The Noncommunicable diseases progress monitor 2020 was also examined to assess nutritional policies in SIDS.

Objectives

To determine changes to income and livelihood, food consumption, and hunger due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in three Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Caribbean: Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Objective

To identify and assess the determinants of unhealthy dietary habits among a sample of survey participants in Jamaica.

A key feature of this special supplement of the Pan American Journal of Public Health is its focus on the state of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the Caribbean. The negative value chain impact is its effects on economic growth and childhood educational outcomes. Thus, there is an ecological relationship between interventions to support dietary diversity, improving successful transitions from school to work and economic growth in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

The Caribbean Region is blessed by diversity. The ethnic diversities of the people who inhabit it. The language diversity reflecting the tongues of original native people, the colonial history and the people brought here from Africa and India, not to mention the languages and dialects and patois which developed in the Caribbean. So, it should be expected that the Caribbean would naturally have a diversity in the foods we eat and the ways in which they are prepared.

Food insecurity, obesity, and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are significant problems impeding human and economic development of small island nations and communities of the Caribbean Region. In addition, the Caribbean Community states remain prone to natural disasters and extreme weather events occurring at an increased frequency, attributed to climate change.