World Diabetes Day
Dewan Chand, Suva
Diabetes has been branded as the life-style disease. It is connected with sedentary life-style (very little physical activity) and the consumption of processed foods with very high salt and sugar content and many a times preservatives as well. All these are hazardous to our health. Consumption of processed foods lead to obesity which leads to hypertension; increased sugar and salt in our blood stream lead to other complications as well.
Many people smoke cigarettes drink grog and alcohol in access and this leads to complications in the lungs, liver, heart and arteries.
Thus the flow of vital life giving blood is affected and this in turn affects the supply of oxygen to the cells of our body for healthy living. There is ample educational literature available on the subject and the Ministry of Health and Medical Services is doing all it can to discourage people from going in that direction. However, people seem to have lackadaisical attitude towards awareness campaigns.
I am of the opinion that multinational companies with their high powered advertisements in print media, radio and television and involvement of children in sports activities sponsored by them win contests. As they are able to brainwash children much early in life; this leads to habit formation which becomes very difficult to eradicate.
That is the truth of the matter but the persons with the authority to control false advertisements fail to do so. This is clear lack of political will.
There is a lot of lip service being paid but no one has the courage to take the bull by the horn. If we did I am sure that we will be able to arrest this national crisis.
The high cost of food is another issue that needs to be tackled. People with limited buying capacity go for cheaper foods such as meat high in fat.
Local fruits too are very expensive and ordinary folks cannot afford to buy it. We can go on telling them to eat fresh local fruits and vegetables but if it is beyond their means they will not buy it.
Thus the number of people with Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) will increase and the cost of treating them will also escalate. This vicious cycle will continue. However, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health must be given credit for attempting to create good eating habits amongst students in primary and secondary schools.
My appeal to the people of Fiji is to lead a healthy life style by starting early at home with your children. This may be the only way to win the NCD battle.