Warning that Jamaica is facing a silent health crisis driven by lifestyle choices and consumption patterns, which he described as more severe than the COVID-19 pandemic, Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton has emphasised that tackling the issue will require a comprehensive, multi-sectoral approach. It is one, he stressed, that should not be viewed as a confrontational and heavy-handed intervention from the Government.

Tufton’s comments were made as he addressed residents during the official handover ceremony for the newly renovated Oxford Community Health Centre in St Mary.

Noting that prevention is always “better than cure”, he stressed that lifestyle choices and consumption patterns must be understood within a broader national context.

“If you look at the data globally, Jamaica is in the top 10 countries in the world in terms of per-capita consumption of sugary drinks,” Tufton said during the February 13 event.

Describing sugar as an “empty calorie”, the minister noted that elevated blood sugar levels resulting from poor consumption habits are increasingly reflected in the nation’s health profile.

“If you look at our health profile as a population, obesity, diabetes, [and] hypertension are the main drivers of our sick profile, which leads to about 18,000 to 20,000 deaths every year in our country,” he said, noting that more than 75 per cent of these are linked to lifestyle choices.

He laid out what he considers the clear path to finding a solution.

“Laws are used to guide and improve the life, the quality, and the longevity of the lives of our people; and, in the case of health, we have to tackle, on a multi-pronged basis, the challenges that we face,” he declared.

“So while taxes are used for many things and justified on many grounds, in the case of sugary drinks, there is a very strong health argument around why we need to discourage consumption,” Tufton insisted.

However, the minister made it clear that the Government is not pursuing a confrontational stance.

“We’re not beating up on manufacturers. What we’re saying is that you can use policy to guide behaviour in a positive way. My view on it, as minister of health, is not to quarrel with anybody. In fact, it is to reach out to the manufacturers to explain the challenges that we face from a health perspective,” he added.

Tufton noted that the solutions include reformulation — lowering the sugar content in beverages — as well as adjusting packaging to support size and portion control.

“All Government is saying…[to] the manufacturing sector [is] work with us to evolve to the next level, because we have a big problem,” he said.

Tufton further underscored the heavy strain that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are placing on Jamaica’s health-care system.

“The health-care cost of persons who are obese, who are diabetic, who are hypertensive, who have cardiovascular disease is escalating at a pace where we cannot build enough hospital beds, operating theatres, [and] hire enough doctors…to deal with the demand if we don’t control through prevention,” he explained.

“It is not sustainable for a society that has a runaway sick profile, where people are having earlier onset of illnesses and where people are dying prematurely. If you say the lifespan is 74 years for men and 76 for women, data is currently pointing us in that direction,” the minister said.

While describing the situation as “a worse crisis than the COVID crisis was”, Tufton affirmed that the Government remains committed to promoting healthier lifestyle choices and encouraging more health-seeking behaviour among Jamaicans.

“What we hope to come out of this is more messaging around prevention…that prevention is always cheaper [and] better than cure,” he said.