Minister calls for partnerships to fight NCDS

STATE minister for health and wellness Juliet Cuthbert Flynn says Jamaica is faced with a ballooning threat in non-communicable diseases (NCDS), which has taken on new dimensions with the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic.

She said the health ministry has been “thrust into a marathon to save lives” while sustaining and preserving the mental wellness of Jamaicans, especially going into the Christmas season. “The challenge is such that the fight must be fought on all fronts,” Cuthbert Flynn stated Thursday evening, at a webinar hosted by the Jamaica Diaspora Northeast, USA chapter to discuss ‘Fighting non-communicable diseases in Jamaica during COVID-19’.

She said the health sector must forge critical partnerships with the public and private sector, including NGOS and academic institutions, in the war against the novel coronavirus.

She noted that the 2017 Jamaica health and lifestyle survey showed that one in three Jamaicans are hypertensive, while one out of every eight are diabetic.

“Of those with hypertension and diabetes four out of every 10 are aware of their status and one in two are overweight or obese. With the COVID-19 pandemic persons with the comorbidities of diabetes and hypertension have been shown to be especially susceptible to adverse health outcomes and death,” she outlined.

Additionally, the state minister pointed out that the pandemic has restricted access to routine medical care as revealed in a rapid assessment done by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 163 countries.

“We have a big job on our hands and we must weather the storm,” Cuthbert Flynn remarked, pointing to the initiatives and budgetary allocations being made by the health ministry.

However, she argued that these programmes by themselves are not enough, and called for collaboration with private entities to help identify the challenges and find solutions.

She called attention to steps taken by the health ministry such as brokering a public-private partnership that allows an initial group of 5,000 people with NCDS to minimise their risk from

COVID-19 by visiting private providers instead of interfacing with the public health facilities.

At the same time, she said, the ministry is collaborating with The University of the West Indies and the University of Technology, Jamaica to conduct research into sodium, trans fat, and sugar. “This is intended to inform standards and targets in line with good public health policy in the effort to beat NCDS,” she said.

Cuthbert Flynn said the ministry is also “going back to the basics” by strengthening and enhancing primary health care facilities.

The WHO estimates that 63 per cent of deaths globally are due to NCDS, mainly cardiovascular disease, which accounts for 48 per cent of those deaths; cancers, 21 per cent; chronic respiratory diseases, 12 per cent; and diabetes 3.5 per cent.

The world economic forum further estimates that the economic burden from loss of life due to these four major NCDS was $22.8 trillion in 2010, and this is projected to increase to $43.3 trillion in 2020 if there are no changes.

WHO has called on member states to develop a national policy framework for the prevention and control of major NCDS and their risk factors.

In her remarks at the forum, Jamaican American ICU nurse Sandra Lindsay, the first person in the state of New York to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, again urged persons to keep an open mind.

She said while she understands the public scepticism surrounding the vaccine, but said individuals should make their decisions from an informed perspective.

“I don’t want to dismiss what has happened to our population in the past. I understand that past experiences with studies that have treated people inhumanely have deceived us, have harmed us, have been done in the past. Those studies, from the beginning, were set up to harm. But I feel like this time the world is watching, we are in the middle of a pandemic that is killing us off in record numbers. I urge you to be informed, ask questions, look at the data and make informed decisions,” she stressed.

Lindsay received the Pfizer-biontech COVID-19 shot on Monday at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, where she works.