Miss World Guyana 2017 Vena Mookram yesterday launched her ‘Sweet Vigor’ campaign, which aims to raise awareness about Type 1 diabetes and promote a healthy diet and exercise.
Mookram, who is also using the campaign as her Beauty With a Purpose project for the international pageant, noted that the history of diabetes in her family, the lack of knowledge of diabetes among the youth and the high number of Guyanese who are affected, were among the reasons she took on the cause.
During the launch, held at Cara Lodge, she noted that based on statistics provided by the International Diabetes Federation, in 2014, 61,800 persons in Guyana were affected by diabetes, while the CDC Global Heath report stated that diabetes was the fourth highest cause of death in Guyana. The latest report out of the Caricom Health Commission in early July 2017 stated that Guyana has the highest diabetes rate in all of the Americas, she revealed.