‘Whole Of Country Approach’ Vital To Fight Against NCDs

Stakeholders, policymakers, educators, manufacturers, retailers and private sector entities are essential to the development of Government’s initiatives and the strategic thrust of the Ministry of Health and Wellness to handling, addressing, and solving the non-communicable diseases (NCDs) crisis in Barbados.

At a recent workshop entitled, Engagement with the Food Industry for Healthier Food Environments, held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Davidson Ishmael, asserted that Government must find ways to decrease the alarming number of deaths attributed to diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cancers, and respiratory illnesses.

“NCDs account for approximately 83 per cent of adult deaths in our country, in a population of 267,000, …in an aging population. It is said that by 2050, one in three persons will live over the age of 65…, those numbers are far too alarming and they are unsustainable,” he revealed.

Mr. Ishmael stated that every dollar spent by the Government on engagement sessions, and encouraging Barbadians to be more active and have more affordable choices when it comes to healthy food intake, helps to provide a significant return on investment in reducing morbidity and mortality relative to NCDs.

“So, this conversation is a part of the strategy…. What are we going to do to address NCDs? We need to engage with the various players [and] the various stakeholders. We want to be able to have those conversations with you and to be able to have not only frank exchanges, but to see how we can work together.

“We are spending between a minimum of three hundred and seventy-five million through to eight hundred and twenty-five million dollars into treating NCDs on a yearly basis. If we could take those dollars and instead of treating illness, invest them in your businesses and in your industries and give you more market share to help you to export your products, your business does better and the country does better,” he stated.

Deputy Nutrition Officer with the National Nutrition Centre in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Brian Payne, said there were key focal points for the discussion.

He listed them as to help create a healthier food environment, establish a structured and transparent outcome-oriented framework, ensure the affordability and availability of healthier food options, align private sector industry practices with national NCD targets, and establish a governance framework.

“As you know, we in health and nutrition…can only do so much… and as the Minister mentioned, we are really pushing to get some outcomes established as opposed to just kind of having these discussions, in terms of the objectives for today.

“The key thing here is to not only approach it from a prohibition perspective, but the key thing here is to also increase the availability and affordability of healthier food options. I think we are definitely past crisis level as it relates to NCDs,” he added.

Mr. Payne also stated that there were four pillars for engagement: product reformulation and innovation, fiscal and regulatory alignment, retail and distribution partnerships and workplace and community wellness. 

Author: Dionne Best

Published: June 29, 2026