#BTColumn – Choose to challenge NCDs

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados TODAY. 

by Suleiman Bulbulia

International Women’s Day was observed yesterday under the theme “Choose to Challenge”. Today, I choose to highlight the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on women. I choose to challenge myself, our society, our businesses, our industries, our lawmakers and our Government to make the right choices and provide the enabling environments that allow our people to eat healthy with easier and cheaper access to wholesome, nutritious foods.

The COVID-19 pandemic has tragically forced us to face the reality of an even more insidious pandemic that have been around for several years and is growing. The ‘pandemic’
of NCDs. The COVID-19 virus is particularly fatal for those with NCDs.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), namely cancers, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, are chronic, but largely preventable diseases. NCDs are the world’s number one killer, causing 60 per cent of all deaths globally.

In a comprehensive report titled: “Non-Communicable Diseases: A priority for women’s health and development” available on the Healthy Caribbean Coalition website, the harrowing story of the impact of NCDs on women is found:

“NCDs represent the biggest threat to women’s health worldwide, increasingly impacting on women in developing countries in their most productive years.”

“NCDs impact on women’s health and development across the lifecycle, causing morbidity and mortality, and compromising their socio-cultural status in communities.

“Collectively, NCDs are the leading cause of death for women worldwide. They cause 65 per cent of all female deaths, amounting to 18 million deaths each year. No longer diseases of the rich and elderly, NCDs are a significant cause of female death during childbearing years and for women with young families in developing countries. More women per thousand die from NCDs in Africa than in high-income countries. Although on average women live longer than men, they are in poor health for many of those years as a result of NCDs. As well as a high death toll, NCDs cause serious complications and disability.”

Other sobering facts point out that women are responsible for almost 50-80 per cent of food production, represent more than 50 per cent of the agricultural workforce, yet 60 per cent of the world’s chronically hungry are women and girls.

The reality in the Caribbean is even more distressing. In most, if not all categories, women outstrip men in the complications faced by having NCDs. See Professor Trevor Hassell’s presentation titled: ‘Women and chronic disease: the Caribbean perspective’.

We have to move beyond seeing this tragedy in just numbers and recognise the impact on each and every one of us. Our mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, wives, grandmothers, someone we know is affected by NCDs and especially vulnerable at this time of COVID

Ban Ki Moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations said it best 11 years ago: “Each year, millions of women and children die from preventable causes. These are not mere statistics. They are people with names and faces. Their suffering is unacceptable in the 21st.”

Where are we today, in 2021? I know we are aware of the problem. It has been spoken about over the years. In the last two years, the Coalition, of which I am extremely honored to be a part of, the Barbados Childhood Obesity Prevention Coalition, has been actively involved in sensitising and advocating for healthier food environments in our country, especially
for our children.

The message that unhealthy foods are killing us is spreading but the sad reality is that the motivation to make the necessary changes is not easily forthcoming.

There is strong push back by the food and beverage industries who consider profits above people’s health. While legislation is not always seen as the cure to cultural norms it becomes absolutely necessary when all else fails. We have seen this with the COVID-19 pandemic and we have recognised the necessity of law to enforce what is required to avoid greater disaster for our society.

Caribbean women are recognised as the main decision makers in many households especially as it relates to the food consumption patterns. They are the main cooks in the family. They are the hardest workers, having to balance work at home and outside, and most times will compromise and sacrifice their own health for their families. The struggle is real for
Caribbean women.

Today, the choice of convenience is made easier by the plethora of fast-food options and ready-made processed foods. Convenience maybe but definitely not healthy. Economic considerations also impact on a woman’s choice in food consumption for herself and her family.

It is argued that fast and processed foods are cheaper and many simply cannot afford healthier alternatives. That is true in some cases but the question posed in a meme I recently came across should make us all think: “Maybe we should stop asking why real food is so expensive and start asking why processed food is so cheap?”

If legislation is required to bring down the cost of healthier foods and increase the costs of unhealthy choices then we should be pushing for those laws. The right to health and the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is a fundamental part of our human rights and of our understanding of a life in dignity.

The Barbados TOADAY’s Editorial on March 5 was excellent in presenting the case for a healthier Barbados: “This COVID-19 pandemic presents the opportunity for Barbados to roll out a new health and wellness course. We keep saying that it cannot be business as usual; nevertheless, we only appear to be going part of the journey and not the full course.

“We must use this time to address the issue of diet and exercise, making it a national initiative. We must expend time and energy in preaching to our citizenry the need to eat healthily, stay fit, build up a proper immune system and to supplement with the proper exercise routine.”

Dr. Kenneth Connell, one of Barbados’ champions for better health, said recently that post COVID-19 things should not return to what was normal, “build back better and differently”.

Barbadian women deserve much better options to enhance their health. Options that include proper nourishment throughout their lives, healthier diets during pregnancy, the opportunity to breast feed their babies beyond three months and up to two years if possible, which experts argue considerably lowers the risk of contracting NCDs, access to healthier food at affordable prices, and time for physical exercise.

Prime Minister Mottley took to Parliament last Friday and reportedly scolded Barbadians for their “addiction” to unhealthy foods and beverages.

The next step will have to be legislation, lower the prices on healthier foods, have a national nutrition policy for schools, deny those the right to deliberately target children with unhealthy foods and beverages advertisements, and legislate front of package labelling so that the general public is more aware of what they are purchasing.

Let us ‘choose to challenge’ in all aspects, what affects our society and especially what affects women and girls.

Suleiman Bulbulia is a Justice of the Peace; Secretary of the Barbados Muslim Association; Muslim Chaplain at the U.W.I, Cave Hill Campus and Chair, Barbados Childhood Obesity Prevention Coalition. Email: suleimanbulbulia@hotmail.com