In a region where doctors’ warnings and aggressive media-driven advice appear to have done little to bring a greater measure of wisdom to eating habits, a point may have been reached where Caribbean states may have to intervene directly to roll back the tide of non-communicable diseases which have reached a turning point with the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The warning was issued in Trinidad and Tobago on Monday arising out of a panel discussion on the problem of non-communicable diseases in the Caribbean which addressed, among other things, a “human rights approach” to raising awareness of the problem and front-of-packaging warning of products considered high risk as far as unhealthy eating habits are concerned.
The warning regarding what is now seen as the alarming regional problem of food consumption-related diseases including obesity in the Caribbean was issued by former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health Anand Grover who said that global trade and increased foreign direct investment in the food sector along with the increasingly aggressive marketing of unhealthy foods, had increased the consumption of fats, trans fats, sugars and sodium, which have become increasingly linked to diet-related non-communicable diseases. Grover said that “thousands of people are dying in Latin America and the Caribbean” and that “we need to take action”. “Citizens have the right to the availability and accessibility of healthier food options, including increasing information and awareness about the health risks posed by unhealthy foods,” Grover added.
Grover said states have the obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the need for various accountability and remedial mechanisms to redress healthy food options.
“The right to health is incorporated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which many countries have ratified and incorporated in common-law or civil-law systems,” Grover said.
Nicole Foster, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law at UWI, Cave Hill, said while having international laws and ratification is fine, integrating them into culture and ways of thinking was also critical to promote a healthy region.
“Children are a special group, but with other groups as well, governments have an obligation to implement and integrate human rights into how we operate. It is not just about health advocates wanting better, but it is also about the science,” Foster pointed out.
The discussion also recognized the need to regulate the activities of the food and beverage industries and the need to counter the influence of corporations on government in the decision-making process.