THE HIGH LEVEL meeting at the United Nations earlier this week on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) was a timely reminder of the importance to all of us on this little rock, and elsewhere, of lifestyle changes to minimize the onset and impact of such ailments.
It is one of the ironies of life that much more attention seems to have been paid by many of us to communicable diseases than to the NCDs. Once the scourge of the contagious disease was under control, many of us, by choice, exposed ourselves by our lifestyles to the ravages of illnesses that are the more dangerous because, insidious as they are, they can creep upon us.
The impact of these diseases is better gauged if we recognize, as Prime Minister Freundel Stuart told the meeting, that as long as ten years ago the economic burden by these ailments accounted for 5.3 per cent of our gross domestic product. There is no need to do the mathematics to recognize that this island spends an enormous amount of money on diseases that in the main could be controlled or minimized or avoided altogether by changes in our lifestyles.
Each one of us owes it to our country, our families and ourselves to do our utmost in adopting a style of living that better assists us in preserving our bodies, our careers and our personal quality of life.
It is shocking to hear that one in four Barbadians is affected by at least one of the noted NCDs.
What is worse, “rising rates of obesity, poor nutrition, low levels of physical activity and other risk factors associated with a cultural shift in our lifestyles are projected to increase the incidence of these diseases to one in every three individuals by the year 2025”.
This prognosis demands immediate attention of our Government; and we support the initiative to place this debate on the United Nations agenda. We anticipate that the declaration from the meeting will galvanize support for this worthy life-saving effort.
But we need to stress that it must be a joint effort between the Government and the people. Each of us can and must therefore take care to fight these diseases where they are most vulnerable, and that is by personal lifestyle changes.
