MOHW launches salt consumption study
THE MINISTRY of Health and Wellness (MOHW), on July 13, launched the Jamaica Salt Consumption, Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Study. This is an 18-month initiative that aims to determine the level of awareness of salt consumption among Jamaicans and test the amount of salt ingested by the population.
The research is being done in partnership with the Caribbean Institute of Health Research, with funding being provided by the National Health Fund (NHF).
Locally, there is a high prevalence of non-communicable diseases. It is estimated that one in three Jamaicans has hypertension, with an additional third being prehypertensive. The Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey also found that over 50 per cent of Jamaicans were overweight or obese, while 82 per cent of the population engaged in low levels of physical activity
During his presentation, Chief Executive Officer of the NHF, Everton Anderson, said most NHF enrollees were treated for hypertension, which represents a total of 398,000 beneficiaries. Last year’s total NHF payout was about $5.63 billion, of which hypertension accounted for 25 per cent, or $1.4 billion.
EFFECTS OF EXCESSIVE SALT CONSUMPTION
Excessive salt consumption not only contributes to the incidence of hypertension, but it may also lead to increased occurrence of strokes, heart disease, obesity and kidney disease. On average, human beings need 500 milligrams of salt per day to function normally. However, Trevor Ferguson, director of the Epidemiology Research Unit for the Caribbean Institute for Health, added that most persons consume nine to 12 grams of salt per day, which is up to two times the maximum recommended intake. Therefore, he reaffirmed the need for front-of-package labelling in order to increase awareness of salt consumption.
Against this background, Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton highlighted that the Government aims to achieve a 30 per cent reduction in salt consumption by 2025. During his address he stated, “We have to tackle health from two perspectives – it has to be tackled initially from the prevention perspective, and the core of that is consumer information, and then policies that encourage and nudge health-seeking behaviour.” This, in the minister’s view, would reduce the need for additional personnel and equipment, as identified healthcare issues would be solved much earlier.
Tufton further described the prevalence of non-communicable diseases as a national “crisis” as he explained that the prevalence of the NCDs makes persons particularly vulnerable to COVID19 and other illnesses.
Moreover, the minister rejected the view that his ministry practises “scare tactics” in their efforts to raise public education. He also invited the private sector to be a part of the discussion on salt in products.
The findings from this study will assist local policymakers with informing the implementation of a national salt-reduction programme which will be developed shortly.