By Zoisa Fraser in Barbados
Regional journalists attending a two-day workshop in Barbados were yesterday urged to form partnerships to find ways to urgently address the epidemic of killer Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
The workshop, which is being hosted by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), will conclude today.
Journalists from Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Grenada and Jamaica are participating in the workshop.
Among the so-called ‘lifestyle diseases’ being focused on are heart conditions, cancer, diabetes and respiratory illnesses.
Dr. Leslie Rollock, Barbados’ Senior Medical Officer in her opening remarks, told those who gathered that they must equip themselves to recognise and highlight evidence-based and cost-effective interventions that will be necessary to reduce “the current crisis.”
She stressed that NCDs is a topic which has been traditionally viewed as mundane, while adding that they are commonly referred to as the “silent killers” since they remain undetected for a long period of time.
Dr. Rollock said that until recently, it had carried a relatively low profile at the global level, barely receiving any attention.
She said that World leadership in agreeing to a UN high level summit scheduled from September 19 to 20, has now signalled that it is imperative that the awareness and response be enhanced. She pointed out that journalists will play a key role in this effort.
According to Dr. Rollock NCDs are the leading cause of illness, disability and death both regionally and worldwide. She said that the NCDs being focused on at the workshop are caused by biological and lifestyle-related risk factors that include unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, tobacco use, life stresses and alcohol abuse.
“As a result of all these factors along with tobacco use and the harmful use of alcohol we are witnessing spiralling rates of non communicable diseases that are an unprecedented public health crisis,” she said.
She added that the World Health Organisation estimated that 35 million people die each year of chronic diseases, which is about 60 percent of the global deaths and double the number dying from infectious diseases, maternal and prenatal conditions combined.
Dr. Rollock said that this figure is expected to rise to 73 percent by 2020. She said that the Caribbean is the region of the Americas that is worst affected by NCDs. She noted that 25 percent of Caribbean people are obese, the same percentage is hypertensive and the prevalence of diabetes is more than 20 percent in at least four countries, including Barbados.
NCDs, she also noted, are the leading cause of death and illness in Barbados. She noted that the country spends more than 60 percent of the budget of the Barbados Drug Benefit Scheme trying to tackle these diseases.
Meanwhile, Dr. Tomo Kanda, NCDs advisor, said that the aim of the workshop, which is the first of its kind targeting journalists, is to enhance the understanding between the media and health professionals in order to disseminate reliable health information in a timely manner.
Also, the workshop is aimed at forming partnerships in order to tackle the growing burden of NCDs.
She said that the media can play a significant role by tackling policy-makers and politicians. Dr Kanda stressed that NCDs are everyone’s business. Among the other speakers were members of the Commonwealth Secretariat; Nyka Alexander, PAHO consultant; Professor Trevor Hassell, Chairman of Health Caribbean Coalition; Professor Timothy Roach, President of the Barbados Cancer Society and Humphrey Metzgen, President of the Barbados Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Journalists were yesterday called upon to find creative and interesting ways to highlight this issue. During the sessions journalists were asked to show by hand whether they had reported on a NCD in the past two weeks. Only one hand was raised.
