EDITORIAL
In spite of the many campaigns advocating healthy living and eating, many Barbadians and their regional counterparts continue to grapple with their weight, and a significant portion of our local and regional population facing this uphill battle of obesity appears to be children.
Of late, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) has launched its Childhood Obesity Prevention Petition as part of its Civil Society Action Plan for 2017-2019, and as part of its wider effort to signal the need to have policies that tackle non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and speak to healthy living.
According to HCC President, Sir Trevor Hassell, “Our hope is that this petition will be circulated and supported widely by all of our CSO (civil society organisation) members and partners, in an effort to influence our region’s leaders to champion and implement critical policies that can significantly reduce childhood obesity and the associated non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in our part of the world”.
He also noted that the HCC plans to present this petition at the upcoming CARICOM Heads of Governments Conference in Jamaica in July. As a result, the HCC has been asking persons across the region and even beyond to take up the challenge and ensure that the petition is heavily circulated and signed electronically. Thus far, it has gained a lot of momentum.
Just a few years ago, a study carried out in four Caribbean countries found that 30 per cent of children ages 11 through 13, were overweight or obese. Reports from PAHO, the Pan American Health Organisation, also suggested that the number of overweight and obese children in the region had more than doubled over the last decade, due primarily to unhealthy diets and inadequate exercise. PAHO officials also made it clear that the consequences of overweight and obesity in children are serious, including breathing difficulties, hypertension, early signs of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and psychological effects. So how dare we try to ignore such a serious problem?
Now the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that childhood obesity is a complex health issue, with the main causes of excess weight in youth being similar to those in adults, including individual causes such as behaviour and genetics. The CDC points out that behaviours can include dietary patterns, physical activity, inactivity, medication use, and other exposures. Additional contributing factors in society include the food and physical activity environment, education and skills, and food marketing and promotion.
Given the facts above, it is clear that each case would have to be weighed on its merit. What we know for sure, though, is that dietary habits are factoring into the equation in a big way, as a number of adults and children still opt for greasy, fatty foods, before they select a dish of ground provisions, and many of them are opposed to eating vegetables on their own or in salads. Numerous persons are still consuming salty and sugary snacks as well as sodas and with inactivity present, obesity is bound to step in.
Given the above, Barbadians must take steps to protect and preserve their health and reduce the likelihood of developing heart disease, diabetes, strokes and other chronic non-communicable diseases, and if they can start by reducing their waistline and dropping some weight, then by all means, they should put in the work needed to achieve better results, and bring their children along with them.