Public Health Minister to highlight impact of NCDs at Port of Spain meeting

Sep 03, 2017 News

The fact that some future adults are already suffering from chronic non communicable diseases [NCDs] is particularly worrying to Minister of Public Health, Ms. Volda Lawrence.

In 2007, the CARICOM heads of government signed the historic Port of Spain Declaration on NCDs.

It is with this in mind that the Public Health Minister will be delivering an address at a meeting to mark the 10th anniversary of the historic Port of Spain Declaration on NCDs in the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The meeting is slated for Tuesday and Wednesday.
The two-day forum will be held under the theme ‘Renewing the political commitment to the Port of Spain Declaration towards achieving the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals].’
During her allotted time in the spotlight, the Public Health Minister hopes to impress upon regional political leaders, the need to take into consideration the legacy their policies will leave in the health sector.
In essence, Minister Lawrence is on a mission to advocate for regional health authorities to pave the way for a disease-free future for Caribbean nationals, whose existing generation is wracked by non-communicable ailments. Her advocacy in this regard will be backed by regional statistical findings that indicate that many young people are victims of NCDs.
Here in Guyana, NCDs account for almost 70 percent of all deaths that occur in Guyana.
As such, Minister Lawrence is of the firm conviction that “health sector leaders and change agents should pay close attention to the regional findings and craft counter-strategies to roll back diabetes, hypertension [high blood pressure], cardiovascular [heart] diseases, lung and skin cancers, obesity, asthma, cataract, stroke, chronic kidney diseases, liver cirrhosis, appendicitis, narcolepsy, emphysema, anorexia nervosa, arteriosclerosis, among other preventable NCDs.”
Ten years ago, the Caribbean created global history when it convened the inaugural conference of Heads of Government on NCDs, the precursor for the United Nations (UN) High-level Meeting on NCDs in 2011.

Public Health Minister, Ms. Volda Lawrence

Ironically, that landmark moment did little to reverse a trend which seemed well-set before the visionary leaders’ decision.
“The statistics are quite shocking. Our soda consumption is the highest in the world. In some countries more than 30 per cent of young people are overweight or obese. Our diabetes rates are double global rates, and in some populations, up to 50 per cent of us are living with high blood pressure. It is clear that we need to accelerate our response,” Dr Alafia Samuels has lamented.
Dr. Samuels is the Director of the George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and head of a wide-ranging evaluation of the Port of Spain Declaration.
Dr. James Hospedales, Executive Director of the Caribbean Public Health Agency [CARPHA] has concurred with Dr. Samuels’ assertions.
“There are gains in some areas. However, some, like diet, nutrition, obesity just keep getting worse, and that drives diabetes, cancer, heart disease. The food environment is not healthy. Obesity in children is the red flag and economically, we cannot afford to carry those preventable costs, when we are struggling to grow,” said Dr. Hospedales.
During the sessions this week, regional officials will discuss a gamut of issues clustered around governance, tobacco, nutrition, physical activity, education, promotion and surveillance, among others.
Since a watershed decision in 2007 when a 15-point Declaration with its 26 Commitments was issued, awareness of NCDs and their devastating effect on the health and development of the region has grown enormously. As a result, the dangers of childhood obesity are much better known. In fact, Barbados and Dominica have introduced taxes on sugary drinks as a result, and more Caribbean territories are set to follow.
During the upcoming forum, leaders will be expected to “consolidate pledges made at a 2016 meeting where they promised to address such issues as banning smoking in public places; banning the advertising of unhealthy foods to children and raising taxes on food high in sugar, salts and trans fats”.
According to Dr. Samuels, “We will continue to push for concrete commitments. We want to see more action on getting a tobacco-free Caribbean and on childhood obesity. The will is there from the leadership and we hope to get these commitments that put the region back at the heart of the global NCD response. We need to have another push at this 10-year anniversary.”
He further underscored that “the 2007 Declaration….will remain one of the most visionary public policy coups scored by the CARICOM political leadership since the Treaty of Chaguaramas itself”.
Since then, the region has crafted a manual for hypertension, diabetes and asthma; introduced a Caribbean Wellness Day; developed a Port of Spain indicator tool; and influenced the establishment of two very prominent funding mechanisms – the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) and the Global Fund, among several other notable achievements.
According to an optimistic Dr. Samuels, “I really think we can make progress at meeting this conference as we intensify our efforts to tackle chronic diseases. Let’s make the next ten years really count.”
Speaking of the planned forum too, Programme Manager, Health Sector Development at the CARICOM Secretariat, Dr. Rudolph Cummings, observed that “a decade later the threats to our health and well-being remain undaunted, providing an opportunity for our current leaders to make a renewed commitment to meaningfully influence the future of our peoples by joining the global movement against tobacco smoke and unhealthy diets with a firm timetable to eliminate these risks”.
At the upcoming meeting, there will also be a University of the West Indies display highlighting key aspects of the NCD epidemic and recommendations for the way forward. These recommendations emerge from the evaluation which was commissioned by the Pan American Health Organisation [PAHO/WHO] and the Caribbean Community [CARICOM], working with regional research partners, CARPHA and the Healthy Caribbean Coalition.
Former New York Mayor, Mr. Michael Bloomberg, WHO’s Global Ambassador for Non-communicable Diseases, is expected to address the heads through a video message.