PAHO Country Program Specialist Shirley Augustine calls for a ‘Whole Society’ approach to combat NCD’s

​PAHO Country Program Specialist Shirley Augustine calls for the ‘Whole of society’ to combat NCD’s, such as heart disease, cancers, hypertension and diabetes, which are seen as major public health problems in Dominica, and the evidence shows that it causes significant burdens on the health and well-being of the population. These diseases are said to be among the top ten leading causes of death in Dominica.
 
Speaking at a consultation on an NCD Policy and Plan of Action on Wednesday, 26th July 2017, at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus, Augustine said that sectors such as Agriculture, and the education system in the schools, should all play a part in the drive towards having health-influenced public policies, and seek to develop the practice of distributing healthy foods.
 
Augustine stressed that having a healthy society is “everybody’s business,” and the various sectors must come on board as the Ministry of Health cannot do it on its own. She said PAHO has been promoting health in all policies, which is an approach to public policies that “systematically take into account the health implication of decisions, and synergies, and avoids unhelpful impacts, in order to improve population health.”
 
She added that the introduction of healthy living into public policies needs to start with activities that are sponsored by the government. Not only will this cause them to “lead by example,” but it also serves as a way of cutting costs. “As a concept, it reflects the principles of legitimacy, accountability, transparency, and access to information, participation, sustainability, and collaboration across the sectors and at all levels of government. Let us lead by example. We need to have both the theory and the practical. We can begin with a policy on food served at government sponsored workshops and other functions. A healthy fruit bowl costs $6, compared to unhealthy snacks which cost $17 per person,” she added.
 
Augustine advocates that a healthy public policy should be valued, because “health and health equity have values in their own right, and are important prerequisites for achieving many other societal goals.” She noted that public policies in all sectors and at different levels of governance can have “a significant impact on population health and health equity.”