Tuesday, November 11, 2014 - A four-day workshop designed to build capacity to manage childhood obesity is taking place this week as the Ministry of Health and Social Development continue their quest toward ensuring a healthier Virgin Islands.
The workshop entitled “From Data to Action” takes a look at two surveys namely, the STEPs survey and a Global School Health Survey conducted in the Territory that identified risk factors for chronic disease in adults and obesity in children.
The workshop is a collaboration between Government, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and is designed to strengthen the territory’s capacity to conduct advocacy activities and prioritize solutions and strategies to address childhood obesity.
“The findings are that a significant amount of children are overweight or obese,” Chief Medical Officer Dr. Irad Potter stated. “They are consuming too many sweet drinks, they spend more than three hours a day sitting, there is not enough consumption of fruits and vegetables and there is low participation in physical activities.”
According to Dr. Potter all these are risk factors that contribute to the development of chronic non-communicable diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart diseases and some cancers.
“We know what the problem is and we know that implementing the solution will require a community approach. We all have our role to play as parents, the community, civic organizations and Government,” Dr. Potter said.
Dr. Potter added, “Following this workshop we expect to develop and implement an action plan for strategies that will positively impact the levels of these risk factors. It will outline the roles that all citizens must play to address what is an area of natural concern.”
He warned that if these behaviours go un-addressed it will continue to hamper the development of the country.
“We all have a role to play. Let us all do our part individually and collectively to educate the next generation of adults. We must do our part to lower our risk factors to these preventable diseases and boldly adopt strategies that will enable us to change our environment and behaviours. Together we must make the healthy choice the easy choice and become a healthier Virgin Islands,” Dr. Potter advocated.
The workshop began on November 10 and will conclude on November13. It is being facilitated by Country Programme Specialist, Pan American Health Organisation Ms. Katrina Smith, and World Health Organisation representative Mr. Leendert Nederveen.
The Ministry of Health and Social Development has implemented a 10-year strategy to improve the health and well being of the population and reduce the rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases. The strategy prioritises prevention by integrating policies and action across multiple settings where people live, play and work to improve health and save lives.
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