Funds needed to stem health burden

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Dear Editor,

The recently concluded United Nations meeting reviewed the impact of the chronic non-communicable diseases on peoples throughout the world and brought into focus the need for urgent measures to be implemented to stem the high and rising health burden created by these diseases. Our Minister of Health Rudyard Spencer expressed disappointment over the lack of commitment to provide funds to countries to assist in tackling the issues. The meeting was not conceived to be a fund-raising venture; although the hope is that the UN exposé will prove to be a step in that direction.

Jamaica is indeed burdened with both the human and financial costs resulting from even the restricted list of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers and chronic lung disease.

Nevertheless, there is much that can be achieved in our struggle to reduce the impact of these diseases by focusing our efforts not only on management but on prevention.

The use of tobacco has been recognised as a major risk factor for the above-mentioned and other diseases. A ban on smoking in enclosed public places has been shown to reduce smoking, and in communities where the ban was imposed the reduction in the number of heart attacks was so large that they must have represented reduction among both chronic smokers and passive smokers.

The legal framework to accommodate such a ban is not yet available in Jamaica. Local reduction in the growing of tobacco has the potential to reduce smoking tobacco; a move which will also reduce the ethical issues faced by tobacco farmers who produce for sale and use a product which threaten lives and indeed the public health. Yet reports from the Rural Agricultural Development Authority reveal that our government is providing support and encouraging growth of tobacco.

Providing support to farmers to replace the growth of tobacco with the growth of health promoting crops is surely in the interest of the health of our citizens.

Knox Hagley

Chairman

The Heart Foundation of Jamaica

Kingston 5

Do you feel buying into Facebook now is a good investment for the long-run?
	Yes
	No

View Results
Results published weekly in Sunday Finance

Username:
Password:

Emergency work disrupts water supply in St Ann

Funds needed to stem health burden