The
Newsletter of the Pan American Health Organization - December
2007From Caribbean, New Efforts to Fight NCDs
Jamaican children clown outside a hamburger shop. Changing lifestyles have led to an increase in chronic diseases in Jamaica and throughout the Caribbean. Photo © Bola Oyeleye/PAHO
Efforts to stem the growing epidemic of chronic diseases in the Americas picked up steam recently with a high-level political commitment from Caribbean heads of state and a new regional pledge at the 10th anniversary of the CARMEN Network for prevention and control of chronic diseases, celebrated in Nassau, Bahamas.
Caribbean leaders at a Sept. 15 CARICOM summit in Trinidad promised to make chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) their top health priority and to undertake new actions at the national and subregional levels to reduce heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and other chronic diseases (see box).
"Noncommunicable diseases—cardiovascular disease, stroke, hypertension, obesity and some cancers—are now the leading causes of death of our people," said Prime Minister of Barbados Owen Arthur. "The prevalence of these diseases in the Caribbean is the worst in the Americas. It is clear that we are failing to properly control the factors which engender these diseases."
Chronic diseases are the leading causes of death throughout the Americas, but the epidemic has hit the Caribbean particularly hard. Five times as many Caribbeans die from chronic diseases as from all other illnesses combined; 10 times more die from NCDs than from HIV/AIDS.
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Mirta Roses participated in the summit, praising Caribbean countries for reducing deaths from HIV/AIDS by 27 percent in just four years following a 2000 summit on HIV/AIDS.
"The challenge is to do the same or better for chronic noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors, through actions in the purview of heads of state," Roses said.
Educating people about the need to increase physical activity, improve their diets, and reduce tobacco consumption is key to reducing risk factors for chronic disease. But equally important, Roses noted, is government action to ban smoking in public places, raise tobacco taxes, ensure that healthy foods are affordable, and provide public spaces for recreation and physical activity.
"The challenge is to provide an environment which helps make the healthy choice the easy choice," Roses said.
The Trinidad summit, titled "Uniting against Noncommunicable Diseases: Stop the Epidemic," was organized by CARICOM and PAHO and was hosted by Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Patrick Manning. Also among the participants was George Alleyne, PAHO's director emeritus and chairman of the Caribbean Commission on Health and Development, whose 2005 report also highlighted the epidemic of NCDs.
CARMEN Network turns 10
In the Bahamas, chronic disease experts from throughout Latin America and the Caribbean met on Nov. 5–8 for the 10th anniversary of the CARMEN (Spanish acronym for "Actions for Multisectoral Reduction of Noncommunicable Diseases") Network. Launched by PAHO in 1997, CARMEN is a network of countries, organizations, and institutions that are working to reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases through comprehensive, multisectoral action to reduce risk factors.
Minister of Health and Social Development Hubert Minnis noted at the meeting that in the Bahamas, deaths due to chronic diseases have risen from 45 percent of all deaths in 2001 to 57.4 percent in 2003, and the percent continues to grow.
"The good news is, however, that we can all do something, in our individual countries as well as collectively, to change the face of the epidemic," he said.
James Hospedales, chief of PAHO's Chronic Diseases Unit, noted that action was needed not only in the health sector but by leaders in education, trade and agriculture, finance and planning, as well as by the private sector, the media, food companies, and civil society.
"Comprehensive action to promote conditions for health, to prevent risk factors, and to improve treatment of people with chronic diseases can stop the epidemic," he said.
Participants at the meeting agreed to share experiences and work along the lines of PAHO's Regional Strategy and Plan of Action on an Integrated Approach to Prevention and Control of Chronic Diseases.
More information can be found here.
In a joint declaration, CARICOM leaders called for action on NCDs including:
- Efforts to increase physical activity in the entire population, such as in the workplace and through sports and by providing parks and other recreational spaces.
- Reintroduction of physical education in schools and programs that provide healthy meals and promote healthy eating.
- Immediate ratification by all CARICOM states of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and legislative action to limit or ban smoking in public places; to require warning labels on tobacco products; to prohibit the sale, advertising and promotion of tobacco to children; and to raise taxes on tobacco and use the proceeds to promote health.
- Mandated labeling or other measures to disclose the nutritional content of foods.
- Promotion of indigenous agricultural products and foods to reduce the negative effects of globalization on the food supply.
- Improved screening and management of chronic diseases, so that by 2012, 80 percent of people with NCDs receive quality care.
- The establishment of national commissions or similar bodies to plan and coordinate comprehensive prevention and control of NCDs.
The summit leaders also declared a new Caribbean Wellness Day for every second Saturday in September.