Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grants - Institute/Initiative Community Support

Children's eating and drinking habits are shaped by the places where they live, learn, and play. In Antigua and Barbuda and across the Caribbean, there is limited recent information on children's nutrition and related health behaviours, making it difficult for schools, communities, and policymakers to plan effective prevention strategies. In 2025, our Canada-Caribbean research team established the Healthy Schools Antigua and Barbuda surveillance system and collected baseline data from 52 primary schools and 1,378 children, representing 58% response rate. Early findings show that many children regularly consume sugar-sweetened drinks, sweets, fast food, and energy drinks at school, while fewer report frequent fruit and vegetable intake. These patterns matter because childhood behaviours can influence long-term health, including future risk of diabetes and other chronic diseases. This planning and dissemination project will help turn these findings into action. We will share the 2025 surveillance results with public health, education, community, and regional partners in Antigua and Barbuda and across CARICOM. We will also bring stakeholders together to identify priority indicators for future monitoring and to co-develop a proposal for a sustainable, routine school-based surveillance system. Finally, we will work with policymakers and community partners to develop an evaluation plan for current efforts to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage consumption in Antigua and Barbuda. By involving researchers, schools, government, community organisations, and trainees from both Canada and Antigua and Barbuda, this project will support locally relevant, practical, and equity-focused planning. The expected outputs are a follow-on surveillance proposal, an evaluation plan for sugar-sweetened beverage reduction initiatives, and stronger partnerships to support children's health and well-being.