President of the World Medical Association (WMA) Prof Sir Michael Marmot says the cost of T&T not doing anything to improve its health care system will be enormous not just financially but in terms of its citizens' well-being.
Guardian yesterday, prior to his giving his feature address at the T&T Medical Association (TTMA) and partners' 22nd Annual Medical Conference, titled "Health in all Policies–A Golden Investment in Social Determinants of Health," at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre, today.
One of the questions asked was if he could quantify the savings for T&T on medical expenditure if preventable health measures, Health in All Policies (HiAP), and the measures which he was advocating were adopted rather than treating diseases when they occurred.
Marmot said, "I can't put a dollar cost on the savings, but what we calculated in the UK was that the cost of not taking action was absolutely enormous.
"We calculated that the cost to National Health Service from obesity linked to social determinants of health was several billion pounds per year."
When the world renowned proponent of the social determinants of health was asked if T&T and the Government can benefit from adoption of his practices and if there were any tangible outcomes, he said, "Yes, all countries can. What we see are two linked phenomena in all countries."
He said the first was large inequalities in health related to education, income or other measures of general social standards.
Marmot said the second was heavily related to the social conditions in which people were born, grew, lived, worked and aged.
, Marmot will also deliver a workshop at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business.