Dear Editor,

There should be no surprise in the revelation by the doctors from the Heart Institute of the Caribbean that complications from heart-related diseases constitute the leading cause of death among Jamaicans. In fact, they have revealed nothing new.

The Ministry of Health has for some time now recognised that lifestyle diseases are responsible for a great number of deaths among our people and consequently pose serious challenges to the health sector of our country.

Despite that recognition, the ministry does not appear proactive or serious about addressing this reality. Where is the white paper on a public health plan that would meaningfully address those challenges? Where are the policies or measures being employed to ban or restrict some of the practices or behaviours that have been contributing to such a health crisis?

Health Minister Rudyard Spencer promised that comprehensive legislation respecting a ban on smoking in public spaces would be in place by June 2009. This measure would see Jamaica going a far way in fulfilling its obligation under the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control that we signed in July 2005. Alas, more than a year later, to my disappointment, there has been not one iota of evidence of such legislation coming into effect soon.

The serious health challenges presented to the active users of tobacco products and to the passive bystanders subjected to tobacco pollution are well known and have been extensively researched. Hence, grave injustice is being done to the people of this country because of the health ministry's tardiness in providing the legal mechanism to discourage such unhealthy behaviour.

Our nation has been growing fat and ugly, owing to changes to our lifestyles -- poor eating habits, unhealthy food products on the market, and more sedentary practices. Consequently, more lifestyle diseases -- such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, strokes, and other such illnesses - have been affecting our people and are therefore posing great challenges to our already over-burdened health care system and our nation generally. Certainly, a nation of fat, sick, unhealthy people cannot be conducive to productivity and development.

While we all have a right to engage in whatever practice or do whatever we desire to our own selves, the state has a responsibility to step in when, while enjoying our rights, we threaten the rights of others or of the nation collectively - even our own rights, in certain circumstances. The national good is now being undermined on account of our lifestyle practices, and the Ministry of Health must step in to provide the necessary protection.

Kevin KO Sangster

sangstek@msn.com

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