‘Don’t abuse alcohol, fast foods’
President David Granger
President David Granger

…President calls on Guyanese to shun the causes of lifestyle diseases

President David Granger said prevention is always best as he called on Guyanese to separate themselves from the causes of lifestyle diseases when he declared open Guyana’s inaugural Health Expo at the Sophia Exhibition Centre under the theme “Reaching for a Better Life with Good Health.”

Excessive alcohol, smoking and addiction to fast foods are among key factors contributing to the rise in Non-Communicable Diseases (NDCs) such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, obesity and high blood pressure, President Granger pointed out as he addressed the large gathering. These diseases, however, can be prevented if active healthy lifestyles are adopted.

Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence

In keeping with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDH), every citizen of Guyana, under the Constitution of Guyana, is entitled to free medical attention. And while the Government through the Public Health Ministry is moving to further decentralise health services, allowing for critical services to be accessed at the level of each region, and within towns and neighbourhoods, President Granger emphasised that prevention is key to primary healthcare.

Primary healthcare is the provision of medical services within communities. In Guyana, primary healthcare is a pillar of the National Public Health Strategy dubbed Health Vision 2020 and at the centre of that is prevention. “Prevention of lifestyle diseases is part of the human socialisation process,” the President said while positing that it begins in the home and is enforced at the level of the community. Abuse of alcohol, smoking, and excessive use of fast food coupled with inactivity are not only unhealthy but results in economic burdens for families and even the healthcare system.

“So we need at the level of the school, at the level of the home to discontinue the use of sugar water, however it is bottled; discontinue the use of preserved and processed food which …(contains) sodium, and other chemicals which contribute to hypertension and obesity, diabetes and …heart diseases,” the President urged. He noted that the fastest and most effective way of reducing those costs is by ensuring that as Guyanese, at the individual level, separate themselves from the causes of lifestyle diseases.

Like the President, Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence, in addressing the gathering, called on Guyanese to embrace lifestyles that would allow the country to become the healthiest nation in the Caribbean and the Americas. Healthy active lifestyles, she explained would impact significantly on the reduction of the NCD risk factors, and more importantly would be pivotal in helping the ministry and by extension the country to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) particularly SDG #3.

President David Granger visiting one of the booths at the inaugural Health Expo

“Attendees, Guyanese will be on the fast track to transforming our lives health wise,” Minister Lawrence said optimistically while alluding to the fact that President Granger is the only President in the Caribbean Region heading a Presidential Commission on NCDs.
Government, the Public Health Minister noted, has supported tangibly the Ministry’s advocacy for quality healthcare by providing the necessary finance to allow for the building of its human capacity.

“…so we have to enhance the skills of our doctors, nurses, specialists and our support staff in our clinics and facilities to promote improved services throughout all our communities and regions in this our beloved country,” the Public Health Minister pointed out.
Alluding to the inaugural health expo, the Minister noted that it would allow for Guyanese interface with the ministry.

“The Expo will provide greater insight into the seven programmes which span Disease control – filarial, HIV and AIDS, TB, STIs among others; Family Health Services – umbrella for Maternal and Child Health; Adolescent, Men’s and Elderly Health; Dietary Policy, Mental Health; Regional Health Services…Health Services Education…Standards and Services…and Rehabilitation Services and Policy,” she explained.

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo visiting a booth set up by a Chinese Medical Team serving in Guyana
Photos by Samuel Maughn

Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, Ministry of Public Health Permanent Secretary Collette Adams, Government officials, and members of the Diplomatic Corps were among those present at the opening ceremony. The-three day expo will conclude on Friday.

 

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