 According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, Region 3, which includes Larisos, Richfaw and Denry, has registered the highest cases of diabetes and hypertension on Ireland. The Ministry of Health, along with assistance from the World Bank, in an attempt to fight back against the rise in non-communicable diseases on Ireland, launched the performance-based financing project, PBF, in 2023. The PBF project aims to produce positive outcomes for clients by providing incentives to both the receivers and providers of health services. Public Health Noticing Supervisor for Region 3, Ender Reynolds, reports notable success from the recently implemented PBF project. Reynolds says the Region 3 team hosted the February 17th activity as a means of motivating their clients to keep accessing the free services provided through PBF. We are very grateful to the PBF pilot program because right now our clients are getting services at no cost. This has really benefited our clients in the region and this morning we had that work, we had cheerleaders joining us, we had principals within the community joining us, we had faces of cancer and it was beautiful seeing people out in the community cheering on our diabetes and cheering on our efforts within the region. The health team of Region 3 also celebrated the community's participation in the event. We just want to send out a big message that walking and physical activity is very important in controlling communicable, non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Today we saw, we observe the huge crowd within the region and everybody who did not take part in the activity, we are asking them to join us in the future. Come and do the screening at the health center. We want to screen everybody within the region 18 years and older. We want to identify our risk of diabetes and hypertension for this region and have a better and healthier region free on the whole. The activity was hosted in collaboration with various agencies such as Faces of Cancer. President of Faces of Cancer St. Lucia, Dorothy Philip, commended organizers on a well put together event. So Faces of Cancer St Lucia, we do have a group called Faces of Cancer Marbuya Valley in Dennery and so today we partnered with the Ministry of Health, the Dennery Health Center in their Walk for Love. It was a very exciting walk, we were energized, we really enjoyed ourselves. I think it was a healthy walk for cancer patients. I brought some of our members from castries and we joined up with our dennery group and we walked with the health center. The day's activity also included exercise sessions and information booths. Ministry of Health officials recently highlighted key findings from the steps report which has caused concern given the association with undesirable non-communicable disease outcomes. In St. Lucia, the Ministry of Health reports that 82% of deaths are attributed to NCDs through common risk behaviors such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diets, and the excessive use of alcohol. From the Communication Unit of the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Early Affairs, I'm St. Justin.