5.7 PLANETARY HEALTH
Many for the price of one
W e face major challenges disease epidemic and the climate crisis, which are related. Civil society– led NCD/health and climate action movements offer the best hope for improving the health of people and the underlying natural systems on which all our lives and livelihoods depend. to planetary health in the non-communicable THE CHALLENGE FACING THE CARIBBEAN NCDs – principally cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases – cause approximately 80% of all deaths in the Caribbean. Caribbean countries feature among the top 10 of premature deaths from NCDs in the Americas. Caribbean countries have a high prevalence of diabetes, hypertension and obesity, with increasing loss of lives, legs, kidney function and sight. NCDs are a major economic burden in the region, costing 5% of gross domestic product in Trinidad and Tobago alone. NCDs share the modifiable risk factors of tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, poor diet and physical inactivity, as well as air pollution, easily linked to the climate crisis. These factors reflect human behaviour, but are profoundly influenced by social and environmental determinants, such as poverty,
Integrating non-communicable disease prevention and climate action can go a long way towards improving planetary health – by supporting the natural systems upon which all our lives depend By C James Hospedales, founder, EarthMedic and EarthNurse Foundation for Planetary Health education, gender and where you live, and by commercial forces. A key determinant is weak regulatory capacity for tobacco, alcohol, food and medicines, although some progress has been made regarding pharmaceuticals by the Caribbean Public Health Agency. The region has an unhealthy food environment with foods high in salt, sugar, fat and calories. There are no labels warning of unhealthy foods. There is widespread marketing to children and limited use of fiscal measures such as taxes on sugary beverages. There is interference from the food industry,
heavy alcohol marketing and fossil fuel–based transport that increases sedentariness. As much as 90% of food in the Caribbean is imported, making trade policy important to a healthier food environment. And climate change has many adverse impacts on the people of this vulnerable region located in the hurricane belt, small in size and with resource constraints. These ubiquitous, unrelenting impacts affect all sectors, but disproportionately affect the poor, older adults and people with chronic NCDs. For example, Hurricane Maria caused 64 deaths in Puerto Rico in 2017, but over 1,200 excess deaths subsequently, especially in persons with diabetes and heart disease. Both climate change and NCDs are typified by overconsumption: of food, fossil fuel, tobacco and alcohol, driven by commercial interests. Another link is food and nutrition security, as more frequent storms, drought and damage lead to more consumption of cheap, low-quality imported food, in turn leading to obesity and NCDs. The massive meat industry uses gas and oil to make fertilisers and support mechanised agriculture. Another link is air quality, as heat and drought cause more fires and smoke, and pollution from vehicle emissions trigger asthma and chronic respiratory disease. People grow increasingly inactive, depending on vehicles using fossil fuels.
70
Health: A Political Choice – From Fragmentation to Integration
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online