PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — The Second International Conference on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) of Children and Adolescents began here Wednesday amid concerns for the well-being of the future generations in the Caribbean.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan told the conference that the issue of non-communicable diseases and its tragic consequences on society had become a matter of great importance.

Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Sir George Alleyne said that the most important task ahead is to continue to elevate concerns for NCDs in the youth to the highest political levels and press for the application of the technical tools to give concrete expression to the political statements.

“And there must be concerted effort to ensure that the political and the technical are underpinned by an adequate social enterprise,” said Sir George, who is also director emeritus of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO).

He said the nature and size of the problem in terms of morbidity and mortality in the group of interest that needs to be addressed “is almost a matter of vulgar record and is now impatient of any serious debate”.

But the prominent Caribbean health expert said it may not be enough for the voices to speak to the bald data on mortality and morbidity. “I believe that not enough importance in advocacy terms has been attached to the social and human aspects of NCDs in children — the consequences of diabetes on schooling, the social isolation and discrimination against the obese child and the ineffable tragedy of childhood cancer — a tragedy made starker by the inequities in terms of access to adequate treatment and palliative care when it is needed.

“Society tends to block out the images of the wheezing child who is prevented from taking part in the sports the young enjoy because of asthma,” he said.

Sir George said that the declaration that came from the “NCD Child Oakland Conference” two years ago was pellucidly clear as to the urgent concerns that needed to be dealt with. He said the declaration had noted that children and adolescents often have no political voice and minimal influence in shaping health policies and programmes, especially as they relate to NCDs.

“NCD Child must continue to facilitate those voices being heard, act as a mouthpiece for them, but also use the institutional muscle that it possesses in their service,” he told the audience.

The two-day conference, which was held under the theme “Doing what needs to be done to fight chronic diseases in children”, was organised by the Geneva-based NCD Alliance in collaboration with the Trinidad and Tobago Government.

There were a number of presentations and discussions ranging from “Chronic non-communicable diseases in a group of primary school children in Barbados” to Australia’s commitment to legislation and action to protect young people from NCDs”. One of the highlights of the two-day conference was the launch of the report entitled “Responses to NCDs in the Caribbean Community”.

In his address, Dr Khan said the Global Health School survey, completed in 2011, had shown that 30 per cent of teenagers between the ages of 13 and 15 were overweight, and that 17 per cent of schoolchildren in Trinidad and Tobago were overweight, 15 per cent obese and more than 40 per cent have at least one risk factor for developing diabetes.

He said the results also showed that 45 per cent of students between the ages 13-15 had an alcoholic drink in the month preceding the survey with 80 per cent of them admitting to having the first alcoholic drink before the age of 14 years.

In addition, 70 per cent of students drank one or more carbonated soft drinks daily, which he said was dangerous as excessive amounts of sugar “as empty calories are taken in the form of liquid that are not offset by a reduction of calories taken in as food. More importantly, not all calories are equal. Soft drinks and snacks that are processed and convenient tend to be high in sugars, including fructose, which have been described by some experts as poison with addictive qualities that is strongly associated with the development of obesity”.