THE Ministry of Health will this year work with the Ministries of Education and Culture, Youth and Sport and other stakeholders to address the issue of unhealthy eating habits, and physical inactivity in children.Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shamdeo Persaud, told the Government Information Agency (GINA) during an exclusive interview:

“In terms of nutrition, we are working on several standards, like food safety, in terms of whether the food is wholesome or contaminated with bacteria. We will also like to look at nutrition requirements; so, foods that are labelled as having fats and heavy salt; are high in sugar content… we really want to reduce those, and increase in everyone’s diet, foods that are high in fibre. So, its low on those three things, but high in fibre…”
He said that besides ensuring that the food sources that service the canteens of the country’s schools supply healthy meals, the ministry would also like to tackle the serving of alcoholic beverages to children at school activities. “People offer kids drinks; we want to reduce that; work with the Ministry of Education to not have alcohol served at school functions,” Dr Persud said.
Noting that the ministry has already started addressing this issue, he said that in addition to raising public awareness on the subject, some measure of counselling and treatment is being provided to people who are addicted to alcohol.
The Health Ministry will also be collaborating with other ministries, faith-based organisations and Non-Governmental Organisations to have students engaged in more physical activities as well.