Ministry hopes its new video will encourage healthy choices
GIS - Tuesday, September 7th, 2010 at 4:56 PM
Women played a game of netball as part of local activities for last year’s observance of Caribbean Wellness Day. (Photo credit: The Ministry of Health and Social Development).
Tuesday, September 7 – The Ministry of Health and Social Development hopes the airing of its new video documentary entitled Dialysis in the Virgin Islands will encourage persons in the Territory to make healthy lifestyle choices relating to their diet and physical fitness.
Production of the video documentary was fully endorsed by the Minister of Health and Social Development Honourable Dancia Penn OBE, QC who continues to be a strong proponent of healthy lifestyles that can help to prevent and control chronic non-communicable diseases in the Territory.
Dialysis in the Virgin Islands is a 17-minute educational video documentary that highlights some of the ways in which the Territory continues to be affected by the high number of patients who presently require dialysis treatment several times per week at the Peebles Hospital.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Social Development Mrs. Petrona Davies said the airing of Dialysis in the Virgin Islands is important to enlighten the public about the serious human and economic consequences of renal failure. Mrs. Davies also referenced the findings of the recently concluded STEPS health Risk Factor Survey, which revealed that 45.9 percent of the BVI population was classified as being at increased risk for chronic non-communicable diseases.
“When the video documentary airs, viewers will see that if the upwards drift continues in the number of new dialysis patients who are added each year, it would only be a matter of time before it becomes unsustainable for the Government to provide the service. It is therefore of great importance for us to continually emphasise the importance of prevention,” the Permanent Secretary said.
Dialysis in the Virgin Islands is scheduled to air on Saturday, September 11 at 7:45 p.m. on JTV Channel 55 as part of the Territory’s observance of Caribbean Wellness Day, which is commemorated across the region on the second Saturday in September.
Caribbean Wellness Day is a regional initiative that arose out of the Summit of the CARICOM Heads of Government in September 2007, which issued the Port-of-Spain Declaration Uniting to Stop the Epidemic of Chronic Non-communicable Diseases in the Caribbean. Its objective is to launch a series of ongoing population-based physical activities to promote healthy living for the prevention and control of chronic non-communicable diseases.
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