In about two to three weeks, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh is expected to take a note to Cabinet to roll out a national Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) strategic plan which will be funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Deyalsingh made the comment at the opening of the Diabetes Association of T&T 15th annual residential camp for children with diabetes held at Milner Hall, UWI, St Augustine yesterday.He said this country had made little strides in the fight against diabetes since 2007 when former prime minister Patrick Manning held a Caricom heads of government conference and piloted a declaration on NCDs.
"From 2007 to now....and next year will be ten years since we celebrate that and we have made little or no progress regarding NCDs," Deyalsingh added.He said an app was also being developed where adults and children could access information regarding diabetes including management of the disease.
The ministry is currently working with a local non-governmental organisation, which Deyalsingh did not identify, to improve the app already available for gestational diabetes.
"An app is crucial because managing diabetes...whether it is the diabetic mother or the diabetic child...what is crucial is the information because our diabetics do not have the information to manage their condition," Deyalsingh said.
Another feature of the app, he added, was teaching how to properly read labels.
"We have a big problem in Trinidad with our food labeling. We need to look at food labeling to tell you what percentage of your daily intake of sugars come from what type of foods," Deyalsingh added.
No shortage of yellow fever vaccines
On complaints from members of the public of a shortage of yellow fever vaccines the minister said this was not the case.
"There is no shortage of vaccines. I don't know where that is coming from. There has been a shortage of vaccines globally in 2016 but T&T has not such problem.
"We have enough vaccines to vaccinate our children. We have ordered 46,000 doses of vaccines for 2016 with an additional top up of 10,000," Deyalsingh said.He said there was however a shortage of the international immunisation cards but this problem has since been rectified.
"Prior to the outbreak in Angola, T&T was accustomed to progressing ten applications per month for the international immunisation card. With the upsurge the ministry has ordered 40,000 cards. So the problem is not the vaccines but the cards which has been solved two weeks ago," Deyalsingh added.
The camp, which includes 30 children, including from St Lucia, Belize, Antigua and Curacao, cost approximately $100,000 to run for seven days.Children, ages, seven to 17 would take up residence at a dormitory at the hall. Last year there was no camp due to lack of funds.
Type One diabetes most common in children
Dr Edwin Bolastig, advisor, Health Systems and Services at the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO),who also spoke, said type one diabetes commonly affected children and adolescents and required daily insulin for survival.
Globally, he said, more than one in three adults were overweight and more than one in ten was obese.
"A local study done in T&T among school children aged five to 18 shows a four-fold increase in the prevalence of obesity within a ten-year period, from 2.4 per cent in 1999 to 13 per cent in 2009," Bolastig said.He said this country ranked among the highest in the world for death by diabetes, where it was the second or third leading cause of death.
Diabetes, Bolastig added, commonly coexisted with hypertension, cardiovascular disease, tuberculosis and or HIV/Aids.
"Preventing death and complications from diabetes required access to affordable health-care services with equipment sufficient to diagnose and monitor diabetes, patient education to promote health diet, physical activity and self care and essential medicine management," Bolastig said.
He said the World Health Organisation (WHO) was recommending six main measures which countries could take to address the global diabetes epidemic.
They are:
�2 Boost priority to NCD prevention and control including diabetes
�2 Strengthen national capacity to accelerate country response
�2 Create, sustain and expand health-promoting environments to reduce risk
�2 Strengthen and orient health systems to address diabetes
�2 Promote high-quality research and development
�2 Monitor trends and determinants and evaluate progress