However, the good news of a life expectancy exceeding 70 years
presents a unique dichotomy: people enjoy longevity but the quality of
life is rapidly decreasing.
New World Bank research warns that
Jamaica and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) are
facing a health crisis with rising rates of heart disease, diabetes,
obesity, and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which
disproportionately affect poor families, with possible side effects of
disability and premature death, and worsening poverty as people pay for
medical treatment out of their own pockets. In the OECS, the report
estimates that the annual cost for treating a diabetic ranges from
US$322 to US$769.
The St. Lucia data show that NCD patients spend
36 percent of their total household expenditure annually for care.
Poorer households spend 48 percent of their per capita expenditure on
healthcare while better-off households spend less than 20 percent.
Here are the recommendations from the World Bank;
- Prevention as an integral part of any initiative to address the NCD
epidemic, such as policies that encourage physical activity, promote a
healthy diet and reduce the harmful use of alcohol and tobacco.
- Engaging actors outside the public realm such as non-health
ministries, NGOs and the private sector in NCD prevention and control.
Actions can include encouraging the food industry to manufacture,
distribute, and market healthier products.
- Boost surveillance, monitoring and data collection for NCDs so policymakers can more accurately target high risk groups.
- Introduce legislation of tobacco, alcohol, food and essential
medicines to better coordinate pricing and taxation initiatives,
establish smoke-free work and public environments, and restrict the sale
of alcohol to appropriate age groups.
