A sharp reduction in the consumption of unhealthy foods, tobacco and alcohol use and diminished air pollution are among the priorities which the Caribbean must embrace urgently if the region is to shed the dubious distinction of having the highest mortality rate in the Americas resulting from cardiovascular disease, the Trinidad and Tobago-based Caribbean Public Health Association (CARPHA) is saying.
CARPHA’s recent disclosure points out that hypertension or raised blood pressure – the leading risk factors for cardiovascular diseases worldwide – have now become an urgent public health emergency in the Caribbean, accounting for 418 per 100,000 population. This bespeaks a region that has, over time, among other things, largely forsaken its abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables for imported foods that now cost the countries an estimated cumulative total of around US$5 billion annually.