— than any other country in the Americas, says CARICOM Health Commission

By Ravin Singh in Grenada
CHRONIC Disease Research Centre and head of the Port of Spain non-communicable diseases (NDCs) Evaluation team, Dr Alafia Samuels said Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago have the highest mortality for premature cardiovascular disease and diabetes in the Americas.

“So out of 54 countries, Guyana is number one and Trinidad is number two. More people are dying during their working life. And not only that, they are getting sick and they get chronically ill and disabled so there is an implication for the family. So the Caribbean has some serious health problems and we have to ask ourselves why is this so,” Dr Samuels told reporters Wednesday.
Her disclosures come at a time when efforts are being intensified to further integrate the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) for states to benefit from functional cooperation, since regional health strategies targeting non-communicable diseases (NDCs) have been failing.
In 2007, CARICOM leaders signed what they described as the “ground-breaking” Port of Spain Declaration aimed at uniting countries to stop the epidemic of NCDs. The declaration was recently evaluated by a team which included Dr Samuels and other regional and international experts.

Based on the CARICOM Health Commission team’s findings, the health expert informed reporters that death from non-communicable diseases of persons between the ages of 30 to 69 in the Caribbean is double the rate in North America.
She said that what needs to be recognised is that there is a great deal of variation in this region, which has a land space of just over 462, 352 km2.
These statistics were analysed by the team of experts within the context of the Port of Spain Declaration and Dr Samuels said her team was able to examine the risk factor profile across countries and the findings were unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, tobacco use and alcohol abuse.

The health expert pointed out that of the four areas, the region was only able to record success in one, which was having tobacco consumption reduced.
The other three areas, she added, are worse than they were 10 years ago when the declaration was signed. Pointing out that the risk factor across the region remains poor, Dr Samuels noted that among children it is even more worrisome.
She then went on to share global statistics which indicate that the Caribbean consumes the most soft drinks than any other part of the world.

“Per capita we [the Caribbean] drink on average, two soft drinks per person per day. Nowhere else in the world consumes that much,” she informed reporters, while adding that it is the Commission’s hope that countries will introduce a tax on soft drinks, like Barbados, to reduce consumption of the product.
The report produced by the Commission, after its assessment of the progress or lack thereof made in relation to the Port of Spain Declaration, will be discussed by Heads of Government of CARICOM during their meeting today.