JUNIOR Minister of Public Health, Dr Karen Cummings has called on the Guyana Business Coalition on Health Awareness (GBCHA) to be ambassadors of health awareness and literacy in the country

She made this call on Thursday at the GBCHA’s breakfast meeting themed “Our Health, Our Business” held at the Cara Lodge.

Meeting to discuss Guyana’s health as a nation were representatives from the business sector, government agencies, international partners, community-based organisations and all members of the GBCHA.

Together, the organisations work towards the improvement of health literacy in Guyana, a priority which Dr Cummings highlighted is shared by the Public Health Ministry.
In her keynote address to the gathering, she said the government depends on stakeholder involvement for the promotion of health in the country.

Dr Cummings stated that the success of the implementation of any strategy, such as the National Public Health Programme, depends on the level of partnership and involvement of key stakeholders.

“While the Ministry of Public Health engages in numerous health promotional activities… we cannot do it alone… multi-disciplinary, multi-dimensional, inter-sectoral approaches must be strategically employed. It is intrinsic that GBCHA continues to engage stakeholders and have them lend whatever assistance and support they can to advance meaningful and effective health promotion,” she said.

Through the Health Ministry, much importance is being given to the practice of preventative medicine and the empowerment of communities and individuals to take charge of their own health.

Added to this, the health sector is being guided by a number of goals such as Health Vision 2020 and the Sustainable Development Goal target of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
Apart from these efforts, Dr Cummings highlighted non-communicable diseases (NCDs) as an area which requires sustainable health promotion activities to bring about change.
She stated that NDCs consume a large portion of the annual public health budget and minimising its risk factor can result in a reduction of premature morbidity and mortality to the diseases.

Without the right attention, these diseases can contribute to significantly reduced productivity in the population, thus reducing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of the country.

However, with stakeholder cooperation at all levels, the minister believes that these consequences can be avoided.

“We need all hands on deck. I want to challenge you today to be ambassadors of health awareness…. I urge each of you to do your part to raise the profile of health promotion in your respective organisations, constituencies and communities,” she encouraged.
Making brief remarks, GBCHA executive member, Jannis London, spoke of the need for balancing economic growth with the health and well-being of employees.

She encouraged the representatives to use the meeting to engage on how each company can better promote health awareness and literacy in their work places.
Speaking too was Chief of Party of Advancing Partners and Communities (APC), Lisa Thompson, who told the gathering that through the GBCHA, APC is able to provide HIV testing and counselling to persons countrywide.

However, Thompson indicated that the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community is still the most stigmatised population which must receive equal attention when it comes to health.

She explained that addressing the health concerns within these groups can help to reduce the overall rate of HIV in the country but added that due to high levels of discrimination, many are afraid to visit treatment sites.

“When you have a disease that is disproportionately represented amongst the members of those populations, it would be foolhardy to not seek to work with those populations and help to bring down the prevalence rate for the disease,” she said.

The GBCHA has 25 registered organisation members and sustains its projects through annual member subscriptions, fundraising events and donor funding for special projects.