We would like to believe that the leaders of Jamaica’s health sector always have their eyes peeled to developments elsewhere which could signal coming danger, and thus begin to prepare to take proactive action here.

In this regard, we point to the latest report from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) with its stunning revelation that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health conditions will cost South America more than US$7.3 trillion in lost productivity and health-care spending between 2020 and 2050.

That figure, PAHO says, is equivalent to the entire annual gross domestic product (GDP) of Latin America and the Caribbean, underscoring “an urgent economic and health emergency, and the need to act now to prevent disease and protect development”.

While NCDs are not contagious — as infectious ones are — they are lifestyle-related illnesses, and we in Jamaica can and better learn from what is happening next door to us. In other words, we should “Tek sleep mark death.”

As PAHO indicates in its report titled ‘Major storm on the horizon: Health and macroeconomic burdens of non-communicable diseases and mental health conditions in South America’, those figures aren’t just health statistics, they are fiscal alarm bells.

The report was commissioned by PAHO, a regional agency of the United Nations World Health Organization, and developed with the analytical support of Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.

Ten countries were studied — Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Jamaica is not among the 10 captured in the report, but it need not be. It is sufficient to know that NCDs are already the leading cause of death in the Americas, claiming six million lives in 2021, with nearly 40 per cent of these occurring prematurely in people under 70, according to PAHO.

“The escalating burden of NCDs and mental health conditions has become an economic emergency — perhaps the worst economic disaster in health,” cautioned PAHO Director Dr Jarbas Barbosa.

“Cardiovascular diseases and cancer alone account for over half of these deaths. Diabetes is also rapidly increasing, with an estimated 43 million people unable to access treatment. Mental health conditions are increasing as well, further straining already stretched health systems and productivity,” PAHO reports.

The combined economic losses from NCDs and mental health across South America are primarily driven by premature deaths, long-term disability, and lower workforce productivity.

The rise in these conditions is attributed to ageing populations, as well as to increased exposure to preventable risk factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diets, sedentary behaviour, harmful alcohol use, and air pollution, all of which are familiar to us in Jamaica.

PAHO urges all stakeholders to make health central to economic strategies, promote healthy lifestyles, strengthen fiscal and regulatory policies to address key risk factors, invest in primary care, and expand mental health services.

“Health is the foundation of development, security, and prosperity,” Dr Barbosa concluded. “Tackling NCDs and improving mental health gives us a clear path to a better future. But it requires bold, coordinated, data-driven policy. The time to act is now.”

Sound advice.