Barbadians are being encouraged to take greater responsibility for monitoring their health by regularly checking key indicators such as blood pressure, sugar levels and cholesterol.
The advice came from Greta Yearwood, chief executive officer of the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados Inc, during a Health and Wellness Fair at Golden Square Freedom Park on Wednesday.
Speaking to media personnel on the sidelines of the event, Yearwood said the initiative formed part of activities surrounding Hypertension Day, which was observed last Sunday.
She said the foundation partnered with several vendors and pharmaceutical companies to help spread awareness about hypertension and healthy living.
According to Yearwood, one of the main goals of the fair was encouraging people to become more aware of their health statistics, particularly given the high numbers associated with Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in Barbados.
She stressed that many people remained unaware of important health measurements that could signal serious medical conditions.
“What we did was reach out to them to help push anything in terms of awareness, getting persons to understand their numbers in terms of their hypertension numbers.
“A lot of persons nowadays do not know what their hypertensive numbers are, do not know what their sugar levels are. They’re unaware of their cholesterol levels,” Yearwood said.
She added that despite ongoing public education campaigns, many Barbadians are still not taking advantage of opportunities to get screened.
“Even though we preach it, I still find that people are not taking the opportunity to come and get checked wherever possible,” she said, while urging persons to “take your numbers seriously”.
The health advocate also highlighted the importance of healthier eating habits, particularly reducing salt and sugar intake.
Yearwood further revealed that vendor support for the School Nutrition Policy was continuing to grow in support.
The policy was introduced to encourage students to live healthier lives.
“Yes, I find the vendors that we are educating…they’re coming on board. Everybody doesn’t always move at the same pace, but yes, we’re getting the vendors to come on board,” Yearwood explained.
She said vendors were beginning to better understand the dangers associated with unhealthy food choices and products.
“They’re understanding the risk factors that are associated when you push all these unhealthy products, so we’re getting them to come on board and do the right thing,” Yearwood said.
(SB)
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