Hope for the Future in Antigua and Barbuda, in collaboration with the Healthy Caribbean Coalition, Healthy Caribbean Youth, the Antigua and Barbuda Diabetes Association, the Antigua and Barbuda Heart and Stroke Foundation, Scrub Life Cares, and other local and regional partners, hosted a public engagement activity as part of the Make it Make Sense for Our Future / Hope for the Future 3.0 regional advocacy initiative.
Groups Embark Protecting Children
The activity was held during the Scrub Life Cares Grow With the Flo Women & Girls Health Expo on May 23rd, 2026, providing an opportunity to engage children, youth, parents, caregivers, educators, health professionals, and community members in important conversations about children’s health, school food environments, and the impact of unhealthy food and beverage marketing in and around schools. This event is also taking place in Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Make it Make Sense for Our Future builds on the regional Hope for the Future youth advocacy movement, which emerged from the 2024 meeting, Caribbean Youth Voices in Health Advocacy Spaces – Healthy Food Policy Action, hosted in Bridgetown, Barbados by the Healthy Caribbean Coalition and Healthy Caribbean Youth, in partnership with the Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network, the Heart Foundation of Jamaica, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Barbados, and UNICEF Jamaica.
The 2024 meeting brought together more than 50 youth and young professionals from across the Caribbean to strengthen youth advocacy around healthy food policies, including front-of-package nutrition warning labels and stronger protections for children in school food environments. As an outcome of that meeting, youth advocates across the region committed to leading synchronized advocacy activities focused on improving and strengthening school nutrition policies.
For 2026, Hope for the Future 3.0 focuses on building public awareness and support for policies that restrict the marketing of ultra-processed products in and around schools. It aligns with the Healthy Caribbean Coalition and partners’ digital campaign – Make it Make sense – which highlights the need to protect children from harmful marketing, sponsorship, and commercial influence that may shape food preferences, normalize unhealthy products, and undermine healthy school environments.
During the Antigua and Barbuda activation, community members were invited to reflect on questions such as whether schools should promote healthy choices for children and how they feel about soft drinks, fast food, or other ultra-processed product brands sponsoring school events. Through conversation, visual campaign materials, and photo advocacy, the activity encouraged the public to think critically about the messages children receive in and around school spaces.
The activity also gave community members an opportunity to show visible support for healthier school environments by adding their names in support for healthier foods and taking photos with advocacy signs calling for stronger protection of children from unhealthy food marketing.
“Schools should be spaces where children are encouraged and supported to make healthy choices,” said one attendee at the event. “When unhealthy products are repeatedly promoted in and around schools, it can influence what children see as normal, desirable, or acceptable. This campaign is about helping our communities make sense of that issue and building support for policies that put children’s health first.”
The collaboration reflects a growing regional call for urgent action to address noncommunicable diseases and improve food environments for children and young people. In Antigua and Barbuda and across the Caribbean, youth advocates and civil society organizations continue to play an important role in raising awareness, mobilizing communities, and encouraging policy action that supports healthier futures.
By bringing Make it Make Sense for Our Future into a community-centered space like the Grow With the Flo Health Expo, the Antigua and Barbuda activation helped connect the issue of food marketing to broader conversations around child health, family wellness, prevention, and equity.
“This is not only about what children eat,” said another attendee. “It is also about the environments that shape their choices. Protecting children from harmful marketing in schools is an important step toward creating healthier communities and a stronger future for Antigua and Barbuda.”
Hope for the Future in Antigua and Barbuda extends appreciation to all collaborating organizations, volunteers, youth advocates, and community members who supported the activity and added their voices to the call for healthier school environments.
