B’dians have role to play in Diabetes fight

 

 

More than seven out of ten Barbadian females and almost six out of ten Barbadian men are overweight.

 

These figures were stated by the PAHO/WHO Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Dr. Godfrey Xuereb who delivered remarks at the World Health Day 2016 launch recently at PAHO headquarters.

 

He said that reducing these figures is important if Barbados is going to successfully tackle the issue of Diabetes.

 

“Diabetes can be prevented by reducing overweight and obesity (levels) and we know that more than seven out of ten Barbadian females are overweight and almost six out of ten men have now joined them in this grouping. Barbados has the fourth highest rate in the Americas following the United States of America, the Bahamas and Canada,” it was reported.

 

With this in mind, all of us have a role to play if Barbados is going to reverse the devastating effects of diabetes and its risk factors such as obesity and being overweight and some of the steps that we can take include ensuring that the local food that we grow is healthy as well as offering healthier food options in our schools and workplaces, said Dr. Xuereb.

 

“We all have a role to play in creating the enabling environment to facilitate healthy eating, be it the food that we grow locally or those that we import, be it the availability of healthy options in schools and at our workplaces, be it the cost of healthy and unhealthy foods, we all have a role that we can play in assisting Barbados to become a healthier nation,” he asserted.