CONSULTANT of the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO), Dr Beverley Barnett, is in Guyana conducting a qualitative analysis of the country’s Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) Strategic Plan.

The visit is part of a wider initiative to undertake “a qualitative analysis” of the NCD strategies of four CARICOM states. Guyana is the first country to be visited under the regional plan. She is also scheduled to hold similar discussions with Barbados, Jamaica and St Kitts/Nevis.
On Monday, Dr Barnett met with the Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr Karen Cummings.

During the meeting, the country’s NCD multi-sectoral plan was discussed. The plan notes that Guyana will pursue a Health-in-All-Policies (HiAP) approach which envisions “strong leadership and political will.”
The four main types of chronic diseases are cardiovascular diseases (such as heart attacks and stroke), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructed pulmonary disease [COPD] and asthma) and diabetes. Ageing, unplanned urbanisation and the popularisation of unhealthy lifestyles help to fuel NCDs.

Use of tobacco, lack of physical activities, unhealthy diet and abusing alcohol increase the risk of NCDs, which disproportionately affect low and middle-income countries. Global statistics show that some 75 percent of all deaths from NCDs occur in low and middle-income countries.
Here in Guyana, the country’s seven-year, Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) strategic plan needs a judicious mixture of partnerships, prioritisation and sound implementation.
The 2013-2020 national NCD blueprint for the health sector, called the ‘Integrated Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases in Guyana’ is modelled after existing best practices from regional, hemispheric and global approaches.

That is why Barnett’s visit is so timely, since Guyana has reached the half-way point in its programme implementation.
Prioritising their efforts in the sector “will be the key to implementing the NCDs strategy successfully. This will help individual countries better allocate human and financial resources and determine the best courses of action” to support their vision, she said.
Establishing priority will also “greatly assist individual territories [to] make timely interventions” to benefit their populations, the consultant to PAHO/WHO posited.

Additionally, Dr Barnett suggested that the Ministry of Public Health establish partnerships with individual local sectors, its development partners and civil society for the success of the NCD strategy.
In his foreword, former Health Minister, Dr Bheri Ramsarran, noted that NCDs have “emerged as a new frontier in the fight to improve health globally. The increase in such diseases means that they are now responsible for more deaths globally than all other causes combined.

“The new Guyana NCD Strategic Plan will position our nation to mount an effective, sustainable response,” he added.
The country’s NCD strategy is built on five planks: Risk-factor reduction and Health Promotion; Integrated Disease Management and Patient self-management Education; Programme Management; Surveillance, Monitoring and Evaluation and Public Policy, Advocacy and Communication, according to the Ministry of Public Health Director of Chronic Disease, Dr Kavita Singh.

Dr Singh described the seven-year plan as “very comprehensive [and] if implemented accordingly, will provide optimum health care and risk-factor reduction” for its beneficiaries.
Dr Cummings likes the strategy and like Singh also emphasised the issue of implementation which she indicated will most likely include a redirection of human and financial resources “without losses where gains are made.”
Probing questions by Dr Barnett should assist Guyana with identifying its strategy’s strengths and weaknesses, spotting any existing gap and helping to generate recommendations to improve the ministry’s seven-year NCD guide.