Support for Heart Foundation in sugar war

THE EDITOR, Sir:

This is an open letter to Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

THE HEALTHY Latin America Coalition (CLAS, for its abbreviation in Spanish) wishes to express strong support for The Heart Foundation of Jamaica (HFJ) and its campaign to make the population of Jamaica aware of the harm that is caused by overconsumption of sugarsweetened beverages.

The public should understand the connection between these beverages, obesity, and resulting diseases such as diabetes, heart attacks and strokes.

CLAS is a regional noncommunicable disease (NCD) alliance for Latin America, representing more than 250 non-governmental organisations, whose purpose is to prevent and control NCDs in our region.

Obesity is increasing in all of the Americas, but it is particularly prevalent in Jamaica and the Caribbean. The resulting diseases are a major burden to the healthcare system, families and individuals.

No government can expect to improve the economic and social well-being of its citizens while ignoring the determinants of health.

We support the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) as well in its work to reduce premature mortality from these diseases in the Caribbean. HCC, as does CLAS, has a significant role to help inform the public about the health risks posed by unhealthy food and beverage consumption. BEATRIZ MARCET CHAMPAGNE

Healthy Latin America Coalition