J’cans urged to take care of their health

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton is calling on Jamaicans to take responsibility for their health by making the necessary lifestyle changes in order to avoid noncommunicable diseases (NCD), such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart diseases.

“There is no prevention without taking responsibility. I have seen pain, suffering, people lose loved ones, cases that could have been avoided or prevented if certain basic steps were taken in the early stages,” he said.

The minister was speaking at the first in a series of roadshows being staged by the ministry, under the theme: ‘Taking Responsibility’, at the Manchester High School Auditorium, Mandeville, last Thursday.

Tufton said that The Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey released last year shows that one in three Jamaicans is hypertensive; one in two is overweight/obese; and one in eight, suffers from diabetes.

“More than half of those who are suffering in these circumstances don’t even know it until it is too late,” he lamented.

He outlined a raft of initiatives being undertaken by Government to reduce NCDs, among them the reduction of the sugar content in drinks and beverages served in schools.

Medical doctor at the Kingston Public Hospital, Phillip Coombs, in endorsing the minister’s call, noted that NCDs “are not something you can catch from someone else. It’s from the way you live — a lifestyle disease — the things you do and the things you eat.”

Coombs pointed out that NCDs are very common in Jamaica, accounting for 68 per cent of deaths in men in 2016 and 74 per cent in women.

“That is very high, and we have to pay attention to these numbers and to make matters worse, the numbers have been increasing over the years,” he said.

He is, therefore, urging persons to get regular medical checks.