The HCC and the Heart Foundation of Jamaica (HFJ) held the 'Blood Pressure Screening for Communities' workshop on Wednesday March 25th, 2015 attended by HFJ outreach staff and community physicians from the Ministry of Health. The HFJ is one of the subgrantees on the Blood Pressure Control Through Community Action (BPCCA) project - Phase I, funded through the Australian Direct Aid Program.

The Caribbean was represented by HCC, CARPHA, UWI, OECS Pharmaceutical Procurement Service, The Barbados Ministry of Health, The St. Lucia Ministry of Health, and experts in the area of hypertension.

One of the major highlights of the workshop was the GSHTP Pilot in Barbados presented by PI, Dr. Kenneth Connell.  The goals of this, the 2nd International Workshop of the GHSTP, were to: Prepare a position statement of support for the GSHTP approach and the intensification of effort to scale up hypertension awareness, treatment, and control across the Americas; Share and compile lessons learned, best practices, and challenges on hypertension treatment in the Americas and across the globe, including treatment algorithms, registries, and evaluation data; Share experiences and challenges scaling up GSHTP in countries; Share best practices and challenges in pharmaceutical procurement and access; Identify next steps and organisational commitments over the next two years.

The HCC is a regional network of Caribbean health NGOs and civil society organizations with the remit to combat chronic diseases (NCDs) and their associated risk factors and conditions. Our membership presently consists of more than 50 Caribbean-based health NGOs and over 55 not-for-profit organisations and, in excess of 200 individual members based in the Caribbean and across the globe.

To join the HCC email us at hcc@healthycaribbean.org