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#BTEditorial – Leave the legacy of a healthy Bim, PM

by Barbados Today
6 min read
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Some of the greatest legacies and moments in history were born out of extremely trying and challenging times.

There is Nelson Mandela’s struggle and imprisonment in order to wrestle apartheid in South Africa to the ground. In the United States, there are the likes of Harriet Tubman, Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and John Lewis who fought tirelessly for human rights. Here in the Caribbean, the name Marcus Garvey will forever be etched in the annals of history’s struggle against oppression.

The most valuable lessons learnt from all of these greats is the ability to rise in the midst of a disastrous situation, charting a course for good and leaving a legacy that can be talked about and admired for decades and centuries after.

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.

It is time for revolutionary changes to be made.

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.

The powers that be must push the message of health and wellness with as much vigour as they have been pushing the COVID-19 vaccination programme. The irony is that this COVID-19 vaccine, if successful, only addresses the existing menacing coronavirus.

If a national task force is implemented to overhaul the entire health and wellness system in this country, we would be well on our way to fighting all other types of sicknesses and not just COVID-19.

It is no secret that Barbados has been battling non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, lung disease, stroke, and cancer for centuries.

Every household in this country has lost a relative to one of the above and this was so long before COVID-19 hit our shores and will continue after.

Our genetic make-up as well as our diets contribute heavily to the high number of Bajans who have suffered and continue to suffer from these chronic ailments.

In 2013, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, delivering a lecture on Reparations in Kingstown, St Vincent, declared that the plight we now face is due to slavery. The historian contended that 300 years of feeding our ancestors a diet of sugar and salt had not left us helpless in the fight against diabetes and hypertension.

He said: “We now have in the Caribbean an explosion of chronic diseases. We have 60 per cent of the Black people over 60 years in the Caribbean who have hypertension or diabetes. The Black people in the Caribbean are the unhealthiest people on the planet. You have to understand that…. We are now the sickest people on the planet.

“In every Black family diabetes and hypertension is endemic. This is a legacy of slavery. You take a people, put them on an island for 300 years on a plantation and feed them sugar and salt. You overwork them and undermine them…The end result is Black people in the Caribbean cannot metabolise salt and sugar.”

There is evidence to support Sir Hilary’s claims. Therefore, in order for us and future generations to have a fighting chance, something monumental and unprecedented must be done.

In 2009, late Prime Minister David Thompson along with his wife Mara Thompson created the National Taskforce on Physical Activity and Exercise. This programme needs resurrecting and upgrading. But we must take it further. We have to be forward-thinking. We have to invest heavily today, understanding clearly that centuries and decades of certain habits cannot be eroded overnight but we are compelled to start somewhere. We have to put in the effort that is required to change the psyche of our people.

We must ensure that the agricultural sector is given the support and concessions that are needed. They must be the primary source of “healthy food” we require.

We must get our people to be as excited about the opening of the fish and vegetable markets as they are about the reopening of popular fast-food restaurants.

We must get in the schools and put a practical and well thought out health and wellness plan on the syllabus. Future generations must see and embrace the benefits of such a plan. We must be stern and demand that our school canteens and vendors only sell healthy foods.

We must bring legislation that forces supermarkets to make healthy products affordable to all Barbadians. We must bring legislation that makes it mandatory for companies to assign a certain portion of their day to some sort of exercise or movement break for staff. In the same way the implementation of a health and safety policy is mandatory for companies, so should there be a health and wellness policy.

We must embark on an impactful and meaningful campaign that pushes the benefits of healthy eating and exercise.

A national health and wellness initiative stands to benefit every single Barbadian and their future generations.

We are therefore appealing to Prime Minister Mia Mottley to take this horrendous COVID-19 period and turn it into a hallmark moment in the history of our country, and while doing so, set the trend for other Caribbean states to follow.

We urge a change in the status quo, at this time in history, in order to leave a lasting health legacy that can literally save and extend the lives of our citizens.

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