(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat is hyped with activities for the observance of the Second Caribbean Wellness Day on Saturday, September 12, 2009 under the theme, Love That Body. On Wednesday, September 9, 2009, the headquarters of the CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana, hosted a demonstration Health Foods; Health Cooking, conducted by the Carnegie School of Home Economics.
Dr. Rudolph Cummings, CARICOM Secretariat’s Programme Manager, Health Sector Development said that the exercise served to sensitise staff members to one of the actionable elements of the Port-of-Spain Declaration: “Uniting to Stop the Epidemic of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases,” issued by CARICOM Heads of Government at the Regional Summit on NCDs on September 15, 2007.
Embodied in the Port-of-Spain Declaration, he said, were four pillars of preventative actions to control NCDs in the Region. One of those actions includes the adaptation of a healthy diet to reduce common risk factors of chronic NCDs, particularly hypertension and diabetes.
Dr. Cummings said that the CARICOM Secretariat thought it fit to organise a “practical demonstration of how persons can embody the principles of good health by using diets that are healthy, nutritious and low cost.”
Speaking about the value of the exercise, Director, Food Policy Division within Guyana’s Ministry of Health, Norma Howard said that it was aimed at using fruits and vegetables to show that “eating healthy is not boring.”
She said that studies have shown that the eating of fruits and vegetables “was below the recommended level among all age groups.”
What was even more disquieting Ms Howard said was that younger categories of people and women showed greater propensity to the risks factors for NCDs – a phenomenon that had become apparent in recent times.
“We have been seeing major problems of obesity and hypertension among women, and similar data for younger and younger people are showing up,” the Food Policy Director said.
In this regard, she said an activity such as this was “very important.”
The Healthy Foods; Healthy Cooking demonstration involved the preparation of low fat low salt salads and healthy juices combining vegetables and fruits. It was done by the Principal of the Carnegie School of Home Economics, Ms Penelope Harris and students of the school.
The display was part of a slate of activities that the CARICOM Secretariat has organised in celebration of Caribbean Wellness Day, to encourage members of staff to begin healthy practices that would result in good health and wellness.
