BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC -Barbados has called on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to fully co-operate in ensuring that products imported into their countries have front-of-package labeling.
And [we have to] act together and say to the marketplace that we are not simply small countries to receive that which you do not want, that we equally deserve dignity and respect, and that together we are going to make the clarion call for our circumstances to be noticed,” Prime Minister Mia Mottley told the opening of the inaugural three-day SIDS ministerial conference on non-communicable disease (NCD) and mental health, which got underway here on Tuesday night.
The conference has brought together health ministers and other high-level authorities from SIDS to discuss the scaling-up of multisectoral actions on NCDs and mental health, particularly given the impact of climate change on small island states.
Mottley told the conference’s opening ceremony hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO), Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and the Barbados Ministry of Health and Wellness SIDS spend a significant portion of their revenue on health-related issues.
“We spend too much money on the diabetes epidemic, we spend too much money fighting cardiovascular problems, and we spend too much money having now to move patients to dialysis who have not controlled their diabetes properly.
“For us, therefore, what you send to our markets, we are not going to dictate to our people what to do or how to do it, but we want you to make sure that our people are doing it with their eyes wide open,” she said.
Prime Minister Mottley told the conference, which is being attended by WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and PAHO’s Director, Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, that she is hopeful that SIDS would unite to demand the best from those who manufacture foods globally. She said it was also equally crucial for SIDS to provide their citizens with necessary information about protecting and preserving their health.
“And I hope we leave here, understanding that while many doctors can feel more remarkable than most other mortals because you are more significant in what you do and know about the body. But at the end of the day, your efforts alone will only bring success with partnership and communication, and engagement with your citizens.
“We wish you a productive few days, and we hope that, above all else, you leave here not only loving Barbados but committed to having that singular voice that would allow the needle to move. Because if the needle doesn’t move, we have not succeeded,” she added.
Mottley told the conference that Barbados is committed to removing trans fats from products by 2024 to ensure citizens have healthier options when they go to restaurants and fast food outlets.
She recalled the public outcry when the government increased the excise tax on sweetened beverages last year, adding that there was a national uproar in some quarters when the Schools Nutrition Policy was introduced this year.
“But the reality is that deep down, everybody knows it is the right thing to do for the right reasons. And we await now from the Ministry of Health the report by September on that lovely but deadly thing called salt,” she said.
Meanwhile, the draft of the conference’s Declaration has been presented to Dr. Ghebreyesus by Barbados’ Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva, Matthew Wilson, and the Ambassador of Fiji, Luke Daunivalu. The draft text was presented at the WTO headquarters in Geneva earlier this week.
Ambassador Wilson noted that “the robust, action-oriented nature of the document included the draft 2023 Bridgetown Declaration on NCDs and Mental Health, which would be the main plank of the outcome of the Ministerial Conference”.
He said the Declaration fosters outstanding commitment and support to SIDS in addressing NCDs and mental health conditions.
The document, developed by SIDS for SIDS, results from four months of intense consultation with other small island health and development officials and civil society organizations, including the Healthy Caribbean Coalition based in Barbados.
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