Campaign to ban sweet drinks in schools

The time may come in Barbados when the sale of sweetened beverages will be banned in schools.

Next week, the start of a region-wide civil society advocacy campaign and programme aimed at banning the sale, marketing, promotion and availability of sugar sweetened beverages, will be announced, at the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) regional, multi-stakeholder workshop, in Antigua.

President of the HCC Professor Trevor Hassell, who is also Government’s special envoy on NCDs, told The Barbados Advocate that there was now a global recognition that the consumption of sugar is contributing significantly to an epidemic of obesity and overweight among children.

“As a result of that, something like a third of our children in our schools, are overweight and obese. The reality is that many of our children consume these sugar sweetened beverages on the school premises.

“And so what we are saying is, one of the things we should do, is we should discourage and even ban, the sale, promotion and marketing of sugar sweetened beverages in schools. And, this has been recommended by the World Health Organisation. It would be a very positive development. We, both children and adults, are just simply drinking too many sugar sweetened beverages,” he said.

Professor Hassell spoke about the initiative, following the opening ceremony of a Regional High Level Meeting to Develop a Roadmap on Multi-Sectoral Action in Caribbean Countries to Prevent Childhood Obesity through Improved Food and Nutrition Security, at the Barbados Yacht Club, on Wednesday.

He said the Healthy Caribbean Coalition, which is a civil society alliance to combat chronic diseases, would like sweet drinks suppliers and manufacturers to reduce the sugar content in their beverages.

“We think manufacturers should aim to produce healthy soft drinks. By that I mean, soft drinks with far less sugar. We think they would still have a viable business if they do that,” he said.
When asked to state his views on how he believes the public will receive the campaign aimed at banning the promotion and availability of sweet drinks in schools, the President said his Coalition has already received feedback from “many parents that they are really very happy that we are trying to achieve this.”

“Parents often say that in their homes, their children do not drink all the sugar sweetened beverages, and when they go to the schools they are then exposed to the sugar sweetened beverages there. So we know parents are very happy about what we want to do. It will take time, but it will happen,” Professor Hassell informed.

Meanwhile, Chief Medical Officer, Dr Joy St John, who was also in attendance at the opening ceremony, told this newspaper that over the years, the Ministry of Health has been working towards controlling the use of sugar in the school setting through issuing guidelines for the use of healthy foods in schools.

However, Dr St John said while the issue of childhood obesity in Barbados is a major concern for authorities, children have not been adhering to the guidelines.

“Sometimes, as a parent, I realize that if I keep speaking to my children, they stop listening, but if someone else tells them the same thing in a different way, they might obey and change their behaviour.

“But the issue of childhood obesity in Barbados is indeed a worrying one, so we need things other than same old same old, to try to stop it,” Dr John said. (AH)

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