Barbados Urged to Address NCD Crisis with Octagonal Warning Labels: Heart & Stroke Foundation Launches Campaign

Education and accurate, easy-to-understand signage are needed to fight the non-communicable disease (NCD) “crisis” here, Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) president Dr Lynda Williams said on Wednesday as the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados launched a new media campaign advocating food warning labels.

The Octagonal Warning Labels Save Lives campaign promotes the octagonal warning label (OWL) on pre-packaged food and beverage products. The foundation has touted OWL as an important step for the island and region to take, as the rates of lifestyle diseases linked to poor diet continue to spiral out of control.

Dr Williams declared: “As a nation, we must take steps to secure our future, and that of our children, by fostering environments that lead to better health choices. If there was a field full of radioactive material, we would fence around it and tell people not to go there. If a water source was contaminated, we would warn them not to drink water from that source. We know tobacco is bad for health; we place warning signs on the front of cigarette packages, sometimes with graphics pictures to warn of the consequences of smoking.

“In the same way, public health practitioners and medical doctors are duty bound to advocate for the right to warn people about what we know will have long-term consequences for the person, their families, and the nation as a whole. We must warn people about what they consume.”

She added: “Can we make it easier for the children and adults to have space and time, to include more activity and exercise in their daily routes at school, home and work? Yes, we can. Can we make it easier for them to make better food choices based on octagonal front of package labels on their frequently consumed food products? Yes, we can. We can do it, and we must do it.”

The BAMP leader described NCD figures as frightening, with the current lifestyle of many Barbadians leading to several serious medical conditions.

“The prevalence of obesity, overweight, and non-communicable diseases continues to increase across the Americas. This region has some of the highest rates in the world…. We are effectively, on this island, living in an NCD crisis. Thirty-one per cent of children and 33 per cent of adults in Barbados are obese. That’s a full one in three people in this population, who are medically categorised as having higher risks of many serious medical conditions.

“Sixty-six per cent – that is two in three – of our population is overweight; not yet obese but still at greater risk of developing non-communicable diseases. 20 per cent, one in five adults in Barbados over the age of 50, have type 2 diabetes, and nearly a quarter of our hypertensives and diabetics are undiagnosed or undertreated. [This] ultimately leads to a greater burden of the consequences of these illnesses in the long run,” Dr Williams said.

(SB)