Winners step out to promote healthier living

They showed up in trainers, moved with purpose and left with prizes – but the real win, health officials said on Tuesday, was a commitment to more active living, as the National Sneaker Day campaign drew praise for turning a playful challenge into a serious movement for wellness.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness, in collaboration with the National Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) Commission, celebrated the winners of the September 26 campaign, encouraging Barbadians to move more and live healthier.

At a prize-giving ceremony in the ministry’s boardroom at the Frank Walcott Building, individuals and organisations were recognised for helping make National Sneaker Day a “resounding success”. The campaign generated 117 social media entries, with 111 meeting the official criteria.

Chair of the NCD Commission, Suleiman Bulbulia, applauded the enthusiasm of participants, saying it reflected a growing awareness of the need for healthier choices. “You have done us a tremendous job of promoting this campaign,” he said. “We want to bring a message to the Barbadian public that we need to do a lot more in our lifestyle choices so we can bring down the number of NCD incidences in our country.”

Bulbulia described the NCD crisis as one of the greatest health challenges facing Barbados. “Sadly, too many Barbadians are losing their lives to NCDs,” he said. “Eighty per cent of our deaths or more are attributed to NCDs – diabetes, hypertension, cancer – and now we have added mental health to that list.”

He stressed that most NCDs are preventable through better choices. “It’s not something that passes from one person to the next. It’s choices we make,” he said. “Physical activity is one of those choices. It just takes a little shift in our mindset to say, “let’s get up and make some movement.”

Among the winners honoured were the City of Bridgetown Co-operative Credit Union’s representative, Jamal Maynard, for Most Creative Post; Sagicor Life Inc. for Most Liked Post; Salena Small as Individual Winner; and Ignatius Byer Primary School, led by principal Andrew Thompson, as Group Winner. Bulbulia said he was particularly pleased to see a school among the awardees. “If you start young, we know that will continue throughout the person’s life,” he said.

Senior Medical Officer of Health, Dr Kimberly Phillips, commended all who took part in the campaign and encouraged Barbadians to stay active. “About 200 years ago there was no need for exercise,” she said. “Our lives were hard enough. Today, we have to figure out how to push physical activity back into our lives because of how sedentary we have become.”

Dr Phillips said the ministry wants to make movement fun again. “We may have made exercise look hard and painful. What we’re trying to do is reverse that ideology. We want people to see movement as something they can engage in that’s enjoyable.”

Prizes included gym memberships, tickets to the Atlantis Submarine experience, and a group trip for 40 Ignatius Byer Primary pupils to the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary.

Dr Phillips reminded attendees that change must be collective. “If we are going to reverse the current situation, we have to do it together,” she said. “No man is an island. One hand washes the next, two hands wash the face. Barbados, let us continue to participate and support each other.” (LE)