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Posted: Thursday 16 November, 2017 at 3:56 PM

Dr. Martin urges action in dealing diabetes in children and adults

Dr. Patrick Martin
By: Jermine Abel, SKNVibes.com

    BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – AS the Federation continues to grapple with increasing numbers of diabetics, former Chief Medical Officer Dr. Patrick Martin is calling for a blockage of advertisements on television and internet service that showcase foods that are rich in sugar. 

     

    That call comes against the backdrop of health officials in St. Kitts and Nevis recognizing this week as Diabetes Weeks, where they are raising awareness of the ailment.
     
    “Government and the telecommunications sector should agree to block junk food advertisements. Basic television packages should contain channels featuring environmental protection, marketable skills and respectful political discourse. These and kindred subjects are more in sync with the avowed “Prosperity Agenda” than housewives of everywhere, ice hockey and gun-toting cartoon characters,” he suggested.
     
    Dr. Martin, in the latest of his weekly reports, stressed that “St. Kitts and Nevis has a diabetes problem” because there is an obesity problem.
     
    Similar sentiments were echoed to SKNVibes News by Public Relations Officer of the St. Kitts Diabetes Association, Dr. Reginald O’Loughlin, who indicated that at his practice he sees frequent case of new persons coming down with the ailment.
     
    The outspoken former CMO said that Obesity is determined by two main factors – lack of physical activity (sedentariness) and over-consumption of factory-processed, energy-dense foods and sugar sweetened beverages.
     
    In his recommendations, he suggested that in order to combat diabetogenic girths, “the policy should also be that all schools and all communities have safe and well-managed green spaces for people of all ages to enjoy programmes of physical activity and sports. The budget could be funded by a tax on junk food, sugar sweetened beverages, alcohol, and cigarettes - tobacco and, yes, marijuana”.
     
    According to Dr. Martin, there are primary school children in the Federation weighing nearly 200 pounds, many of whom have “upwards of 50 pounds of fat hanging from the midsection and extremities of young and delicate skeletal frames”.
     
    He stated that there is no surprise there:  parents, rich and poor, outdo each other with birthday party bags bursting with candy and box drinks. Schools, public and private, proudly organize more “hot dog days” than exercise hours.
         
    “Diabetes is the third leading cause of death in the Federation. Death is usually preceded by a protracted period of illness and disability due to disorders of the eyes, heart, blood vessels and kidneys. Suffering is exacerbated by the humiliation of personal bankruptcy due to out-of-pocket expenditure for exorbitant medical bills,” he said.

    Further, Dr. Martin explained that at Independence, a child with diabetes was a rare occurrence, but today the number of diabetic children is approaching 30 and at least 20% of the adults have diabetes.   
     
    “Inattention to food security and physical activity is a threat to health and holistic development. Reducing diabetes and other NCDs is beyond the control of the health sector. Fundamentally, it is a matter of political will,” he posited.
     
    Junior Minister of Health, Hon. Wendy Phipps recently revealed that at the 17 health centers in the Federation, there are 1,313 diabetics within the public health system.
     
    Of that figure, the Minister noted that women account for more than half the number.
     
    “…data is also showing us that of that figure (934) 603 female diabetics are in St. Kitts and 230 males. On our sister island of Nevis there are 331 female diabetics and 149 males.”

    Dr. O’Loughlin recently intimated that as part of their week of activities, they would be visiting a primary school.

    According to the MD, they are looking to take the fight to the primary school, as they have seen children on the borderline of being diabetics.
     
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