Coalition welcomes debt-for-social swap, calls for inclusive NCD strategy

The Barbados Childhood Obesity Prevention Coalition has welcomed the government’s planned $1.2bn debt-for-social swap, but is urging broad stakeholder involvement in deciding how savings from the transaction are used to address the country’s non-communicable disease (NCD) crisis.

Coalition chair Nicole Foster said the initiative could provide important support for efforts to combat NCDs and childhood obesity.

Foster, a law lecturer and head of the Law and Health Research Unit at the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill, told Barbados TODAY that the coalition supports the government’s efforts to secure additional funding for a pressing national challenge.