True cost of ill-health must be known, says veteran trade unionist
THERE is the view that more must be done to ascertain the true impact of non-communicable diseases on the economy of Barbados.
It comes from veteran trade unionist Orlando “Gabby” Scott who was speaking during the recent launch of the new Pharma Wellness International Inc’s Information Technology Platform, Website and Public Programme at the Diabetes Centre in Warrens.
The Assistant General Secretary, while highlighting the benefits seen from the partnership forged between Pharma Wellness and the BWU in the empowerment of workers to take greater control of their health, said as the leading trade union organisation in the Eastern Caribbean, the BWU is profoundly concerned not only about the physical health of the workforce and on families, but how ill-health affects our economy.
“Only recently we have heard that Barbadians are eating themselves to death. The reality is that we in Barbados could find ourselves being threatened if indeed, we are not, by a lifestyle disease epidemic because NCDs are really the major cause of illness and death in Barbados. Yet, notwithstanding the cries from the Ministry of Health and the health NGOs, we are still behaving like couch potatoes,” he pointed out.
“When workers and their families are afflicted by NCDs or indeed, by workplace accidents, missed days at work (absenteeism) and reduced performance (presenteeism) leads to loss productivity. Whilst we are unable to quote statistics about Barbados’ situation, a report released in 2007 by DeVol et al in the USA estimated that indirect-related losses were more expensive than the direct health care costs to treat chronic diseases.”
“We need though, in Barbados to be able to have better and update reporting of our situation and perhaps those who should take notice, would take notice,” he stated.
Noting that over the past two decades the BWU has been in the vanguard in promoting healthy living, both at the level of the worksite and nationally, he revealed that through the establishment of Pharma Wellness International, the BWU has been able to make far more practical steps in its quest to improve the health of its staff, its membership and retirees.
“This programme allows the workers to monitor their health, in a systematic manner, by way of examining their biometric data. This system, as you know, allows the worker, with the advice of Pharma Wellness International to monitor, over a set time, their blood sugar, their blood pressure their waistline and their weight, thus providing them and Pharma Wellness International with the vital information to make necessary lifestyle changes like diet and physical exercise.”
While tackling the health challenges affecting the workforce is paramount through preventative programmes, Scott stressed that more radical changes must be made at the childhood level.
“As the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) led by Professor Sir Trevor Hassell has pointed out, there is a critical link between childhood obesity and NCDS. That evidence is clear.”
“I plead that we in Barbados should support the HCC’s launch of the childhood obesity prevention on-line petition which is part of its broader “too much junk” campaign to reduce childhood obesity through the enactment of polices and legislation such as the imposition of a tax of not less than 25 per cent of sugar sweetened beverages, banning the sale, promotion and marketing of sugar sweetened beverages and unhealthy fast/junk foods in schools and the adoption and application of regional standards for nutritional and front-of-package labelling of foods and beverages,” he said.
(JH)