Editorials and Views

It is a commendable move by Trinidad and Tobago’s health ministry to ban the sale of sugar-sweetened drinks at all government and government-assisted schools starting April, 2017. The move comes with evidence continuing to point to a national childhood obesity epidemic.
The epidemic does not belong only to Trinidad and Tobago. In fact, as the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the Pan American Health Organisation reported last month, it is not getting any better for Latin America and the Caribbean.
As stated in its report, ‘Panorama of Food and Nutrition Security in Latin America and the Caribbean’, close to 360 million people, around 58 percent of the inhabitants of the region, are now overweight, with highest rates in the Bahamas (69 percent), Mexico (64 percent), and Chile (63 percent). Out of this figure, 140 million are affected with obesity (23 percent), with highest rates in Barbados (36 percent), and Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, at around 31 percent.
Three years ago, the Caribbean Public Health Agency published a ‘Plan of Action for Promoting Healthy Weights: 2014-2019’. Part of this document was a commitment to reducing obesity among children and adolescents by 2025 across the Caribbean. The group was working through an integrated strategy to address nutrition-related diseases in countries as Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Lucia, among others.
In CARPHA’s report, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Bermuda, Aruba, and Montserrat had indicated “at least one obesity prevention policy either in draft or finalised”. Added CARPHA: “These interventions were, however, largely focused on school-based initiatives with less attention being placed on the involvement of a wide cross-section of stakeholders.”
This latest move by Trinidad and Tobago’s health ministry is reassuring as part of such school-based initiatives. The sweetened drinks being banned from cafeterias include soft drinks, juice drinks, flavoured water, sports-energy drinks, tea, coffee, and milk-based drinks with added sugars and artificial sweeteners. Only water, 100 percent sweet juices, low-fat milk and blended vegetables or fruit drinks are to be made available.
Said the Health Ministry: “The rise in the prevalence of obesity is evident in the 2009 Evaluation of School Meals Options and Survey of Body Mass Indices, conducted by the then Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute which has been integrated into [CARPHA]. This evaluation revealed overweight and obesity in school-aged children five to 18 years old increased by 109 percent, from 11 percent in 1999 to 23 percent in 2009.”
The survey found a 400 percent increase – from 2.5 percent to 12.5 percent for obesity over the same ten-year period. As the report notes, childhood obesity leads to an early onset of non-communicable diseases in general – such as diabetes, and hypertension.
As CARPHA indicated, it was looking forward to member-states in the Caribbean enacting “strong regulatory frameworks for reducing obesogenic environments”. Moving along with these frameworks were “evidence-based policies to support production, access and consumption of safe, affordable, nutritious, high-quality food commodities”.
The Trinidad and Tobago health ministry also indicated as part of these initiatives its continued collaboration with the education ministry on a course of action that includes primary health care and promotion of breastfeeding and healthy eating; on improving school nutrition and physical activity environments; on fiscal policies, on and the regulation of food marketing and labelling.
As FAO’s Regional Representative Eve Crowley said last month: “The alarming rates of overweight and obesity in Latin America and the Caribbean should act as a wake-up call to governments in the region to introduce policies that address all forms of hunger and malnutrition, and to do this by linking food security, sustainability, agriculture, nutrition and health.”
Hopefully, these initiatives in Trinidad and Tobago are also underway throughout the rest of the Caribbean.

February 1, 2017 issue
Editorial
Caribbean obesity
It is a commendable move by Trinidad and Tobago’s health ministry to ban the sale of sugar-sweetened drinks at all government and government-assisted schools starting April, 2017. The move comes with evidence continuing to point to a national childhood obesity epidemic. The epidemic does not belong only to Trinidad and Tobago. In fact, as the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the Pan American Health Organisation reported last month, it is not getting any better for Latin America and the Caribbean. As stated in its report, ‘Panorama of Food and Nutrition Security in Latin America and the Caribbean’, close to 360 million people, around 58 percent of the inhabitants of the region, are now overweight, with highest rates in the Bahamas (69 percent), Mexico (64 percent), and Chile (63 percent). Out of this figure, 140 million are affected with obesity (23 percent), with highest rates in Barbados (36 percent), and Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, at around 31 percent. Three years ago, the Caribbean Public Health Agency published a ‘Plan of Action for Promoting Healthy Weights: 2014-2019’. Part of this document was a commitment to reducing obesity among children and adolescents by 2025 across the Caribbean. The group was working through an integrated strategy to address nutrition-related diseases in countries as Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Lucia, among others. In CARPHA’s report, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Bermuda, Aruba, and Montserrat had indicated “at least one obesity prevention policy either in draft or finalised”. Added CARPHA: “These interventions were, however, largely focused on school-based initiatives with less attention being placed on the involvement of a wide cross-section of stakeholders.” This latest move by Trinidad and Tobago’s health ministry is reassuring as part of such school-based initiatives. The sweetened drinks being banned from cafeterias include soft drinks, juice drinks, flavoured water, sports-energy drinks, tea, coffee, and milk-based drinks with added sugars and artificial sweeteners. Only water, 100 percent sweet juices, low-fat milk and blended vegetables or fruit drinks are to be made available. Said the Health Ministry: “The rise in the prevalence of obesity is evident in the 2009 Evaluation of School Meals Options and Survey of Body Mass Indices, conducted by the then Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute which has been integrated into [CARPHA]. This evaluation revealed overweight and obesity in school-aged children five to 18 years old increased by 109 percent, from 11 percent in 1999 to 23 percent in 2009.” The survey found a 400 percent increase – from 2.5 percent to 12.5 percent for obesity over the same ten-year period. As the report notes, childhood obesity leads to an early onset of non-communicable diseases in general – such as diabetes, and hypertension. As CARPHA indicated, it was looking forward to member-states in the Caribbean enacting “strong regulatory frameworks for reducing obesogenic environments”. Moving along with these frameworks were “evidence-based policies to support production, access and consumption of safe, affordable, nutritious, high-quality food commodities”. The Trinidad and Tobago health ministry also indicated as part of these initiatives its continued collaboration with the education ministry on a course of action that includes primary health care and promotion of breastfeeding and healthy eating; on improving school nutrition and physical activity environments; on fiscal policies, on and the regulation of food marketing and labelling. As FAO’s Regional Representative Eve Crowley said last month: “The alarming rates of overweight and obesity in Latin America and the Caribbean should act as a wake-up call to governments in the region to introduce policies that address all forms of hunger and malnutrition, and to do this by linking food security, sustainability, agriculture, nutrition and health.” Hopefully, these initiatives in Trinidad and Tobago are also underway throughout the rest of the Caribbean.

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