Dear Editor,
Think of 10 people close to you -family members, friends and co-workers. Chances are at least one is suffering from diabetes, though they might not know it. An estimated 10 per cent of the population of the Americas -more than 62 million people- have diabetes, and more than half a million people die from it each year. That makes diabetes the fourth-leading cause of death in the hemisphere after heart attacks, strokes and dementias.
Yet deaths are only part of this disease’s devastating impact. Many people with diabetes develop serious complications, including blindness, nerve damage and circulation problems leading to amputated limbs, kidney failure requiring costly dialysis, and heart failure resulting in death. Those at highest risk are the 30 to 40 per cent of people who don’t know they have diabetes and those who lack access to good health care.
Unfortunately, diabetes is on the increase in the Americas and around the world. As with other chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and stroke, the underlying causes of type-2 diabetes -the most common form- are lifestyle changes linked to development and globalization. If current trends continue, diabetes is expected to afflict more than 100 million people in our hemisphere by 2040.
What needs to be done?
Research shows that people who are overweight or obese are at highest risk of developing type-2 diabetes. Currently, 60 per cent of people in the Americas fall into those categories. We know the main culprits for this are unhealthy diets and physical inactivity, which is why health advocates always urge us to “eat healthy” and “be more physically active.”
For World Health Day 2016, this April 7, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are repeating this good advice as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the burden of diabetes and the urgent need to step up action for its prevention and control.
But what kind of action and by whom?
First, eating healthy and being active are indeed important to preventing and even controlling diabetes. That means basing one’s diet on nutritious whole foods like fruits, vegetables, fish, and lean meats while avoiding sugar-sweetened beverages and ultra-processed foods that are high in calories and low in nutrition.
It’s also important to limit sedentary behaviour and take as many opportunities as possible to be active.
But preventing diabetes and other lifestyle-related diseases is not just an individual responsibility. Governments also have a key role to play through laws and regulations that help “make the healthy choice the easier choice” for people to make.
This is a lesson public health advocates learned from the battle with tobacco. Telling smokers how unhealthy cigarettes were and urging them to quit had only limited success. What proved much more effective were taxes to make tobacco products more expensive, bans on smoking in public places, and restrictions on tobacco advertising, marketing, and sponsorship.
A number of countries in our hemisphere have learned from this experience and are now taking strong regulatory action to promote healthy eating. Mexico, Barbados and Dominica, for example, have increased taxes on sugary beverages to reduce consumption. Brazil, Chile and Mexico now restrict junk food advertising aimed at children. Chile and Ecuador now require front-of-package nutrition labels that alert consumers to processed foods that are high in sugar, fat or salt. On the other side of the equation, cities throughout Latin America now sponsor regular Ciclovías(cycleway), during which city streets are temporarily closed off to create safe spaces for walking, biking and other activities.
Governments have other critical responsibilities in fighting the diabetes epidemic. It is especially important that public health systems be capable of early diagnosis of diabetes and ensures that people receive good care. Toward this end, PAHO/WHO provides guidance in these areas and is also working with its member countries to advance toward universal health, in order to ensure that diabetes care -as well as other health services- are available to everyone who needs them.
This year’s World Health Day, April 7, is an opportunity to highlight the role that all of us -individuals, governments and all of society- can play to help reverse the diabetes epidemic in the Americas. It’s time for all of us to join together to “Step up and beat diabetes!”
Carissa F. Etienne
Director of the Pan American Health Organization Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization
Dear Editor,
The buzz words in the streets today is that the NA-led government is following in the same footsteps of the previous UP-led government. This time around they are doing everything within their power to destroy one of the last business fabrics that is owned 100 per cent by locals, the operators of school busses. This NA government is fully aware that by putting the transportation of school children out on bid that many of the bus owners would not be able to participate in the bid.
I can remember many years ago that this same party that is leading the government today was a party for the people, by the people and with the people. In those days a Dutch technical assistant could never head a government department. To the contrary, a local had to be the head and the technical assistant part of the supporting staff. There were talks about public/private partnership to assist local land owners who didn’t have the knowledge to develop their land to enter an agreement with the government to acquire that type of assistance. But all those great ideas and initiatives have been thrown out the windows and instead replaced with draconian proposals to destroy our own people in the name of good governance or to generate savings when it suits them.
The OSPP has taken note of the fact that our Honourable Minister of Education, Ms. Silveria Jacobs, has suspended the bidding process for the outsourcing of the school bus transportation. We commend her for that decision, nevertheless, we still expect this bidding process to be totally withdrawn and that common sense would once again prevail.
The OSPP is proposing to assist our existing local school bus operators by firstly providing them with a contract for four years. Secondly, that these same school bus operators must adhere to all the requirements set forth in the terms of reference that was issued for the bidding process for the new school year 2016-2017.
By providing the school bus operators with a four year contract, they can use it as a means of security to acquire the necessary financing to upgrade their busses to meet those requirements that were outlined in the terms of reference. Let us preserve the few local entrepreneurs that are still benefiting from this billion dollar economy of St. Maarten.
Perhaps it is time for this government to encourage more locals to go into business by establishing a loan guarantee program and not destroy the few local entrepreneurs that still exist.
And, if the Minister of Education truly wants to make those critical investments in education with the funds that she was projecting from the savings by putting the school bus transportation on bid, the OSPP is proposing that she table a proposal in the meeting of the Council of Ministers to have NV GEBE change the commercial rates that it is charging all the school boards to residential rates.
In that same proposal she must state that all the government owned companies must adopt various schools to install solar panels to commence during this year summer school vacation. Most of the school boards are paying approximately 26,000.00 guilders a month to NV GEBE for electricity and water. Between these two proposals the schools would save in excess of ten thousand guilders a month in utility cost, an annual projected savings of over 120,000.00 guilders per school board.
Honourable Minister of Education, Ms. Jacobs, these savings would certainly be a great help to those critical investment plans you have.
Lenny F. Priest
Leader, One St. Maarten People Party (OSPP)
Dear Editor,
In The Daily Herald of March 26, an article under the title “Catholic college in the DR bans gay US Ambassador,” “The Catholic Bishops of the Dominican Republic recently sent a strong letter condemning the behaviour of the openly gay US Ambassador, who they accuse of using his post to promote his lifestyle and the homosexual agenda.”
Well, well, well... How moral. I’ve not heard any protest from Catholics about the thousands of priests and bishops that have molested thousands of children under their care. Or is that perhaps fine according to the Catholics?
While this US Ambassador has been chosen for the quality of his work as an ambassador, he does not molest other men or children while thousands of Priests and Bishops and other “men of the cloth” have molested children in the name of Jesus or God is quite despicable.
The Vatican for decades have tried to hide this fact by replacing these child molesters to other locations or even taken them into the Vatican to protect them from prosecution by the law. In many cases this did not work and the Vatican has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to the victims of the church.
One might ask themselves what is worse, a male ambassador who has a male partner or a Catholic Priest who molests hundreds of children leaving them scarred for life?
God created us all in his image (Genesis 1:27)! Perhaps you could draw the conclusion that God is heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual and perhaps not sexual at all. But if you draw the conclusion that homosexuality is a sin based on Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Romans 1:26-28, then one should conclude that God is NOT perfect! Or did God make a mistake creating homosexuality?
To me it is very clear that Catholics have different measurements for different people. It’s just hypocritical to state that being born a heterosexual is perfect, and being born a homosexual is a sin and one will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
I am not gay, but I have met many gay people and some of my friends are gay. I know that most of the gay people are very understanding to people’s problems and helping others instead of condemning them, like the Catholics do.
It’s even worse than this; While Catholics state that gay people will not enter the Kingdom of heaven (period) they will allow rapists, mass murderers and many other criminals, even the ones who were so bad they got the death sentence, as long as they accept Jesus as their Saviour.
Based on your (Catholics) hypocritical beliefs, I would never want to go to heaven (Psalm 26:4) to walk next to rapists, murderers, hypocrites, priests, bishops and other criminals. I’d rather go to Hell were all the good people are. Besides, heaven must be really boring as nothing happens there. Hell, however, is a constant party with BBQ fests, dancing and other frolic acts that the church condones.
But all this doesn’t really matter as I am an atheist and I don’t believe in fairy tales, unicorns, talking snakes, the tooth fairy, apples of wisdom, immaculate conception, miracles or an invisible superman in the sky.
TS Garp
Dear Editor,
Two years ago or longer we had a big “Donkey issue” where many donkeys died of starvation that were fenced-in without food or water. It was all over the Dutch and even global news. Persons came from Bonaire to help with the issue and did continue to assist.
Last year, we had another food problem, due to the dry weather. Sorry, but I have a big problem with the discrimination that‘s going on between two sets of donkeys. One set of donkeys is being sponsored and also by Bonaire. That one set of donkeys are getting all the needed care and it’s being said that, “the fencing was cut this time”.
Last year, I did my part as a citizen, by giving mangos along with other persons to help feed these donkeys, due to the very dry weather. But at that time they were fenced-in. My big question is: Why do we have two different sets of donkeys? Why can’t all the donkeys be together? We are not speaking of hundreds of donkeys. For many have already died of hunger and thirst. Bonaire is being funded by the Dutch government for their donkeys. Why can’t all the Statia donkeys be funded like Bonaire, as both islands have donkeys?
My people, let’s get serious! All these donkeys are Statia donkeys; they are part of Statia’s pride and history. Their ancestors have served as the cars and trucks that carried all your cargo and people once upon a time. These donkeys are intelligent creatures. They even carried blind persons to their plantations and back to their homes. Even Jesus rode on a donkey when he was on earth.
My suggestions are: Why not put all the donkeys in one habitant like Bonaire, where tourists and children can visit and pay a fee to ride on a donkey, and persons can even get married on a donkey cart? Make it a great tourist attraction and at the same time a good project.
Having them roam the streets is not an option. We have enough problems with the roaming cattle that are tagged and have owners, who don’t live up to their responsibilities of taking care of their life-stock or other animals.
It been asked: “What is our local government doing to solve this problem”? To answer that question: it’s no big secret that our local government can’t even order water without the approval of the Dutch government (BZK). Maybe our Kingdom Representative can use his powers to help our “dying” donkeys that are in great need of food, water and a home like Bonaire. Our donkeys need help today; tomorrow may be too late! Please save our donkeys!
“Even when these donkeys were abused, they helped plough the land for planting. They carried the heavy loads on their backs. They were the eyes for the blind and feet for the lame. They are also one of God’s creation, just like you and me”!
Brenda van Putten
Concerned citizen
Dear Editor,
I would like to comment on the reply from the Port, on Friday, April 1 in The Daily Herald on the parking issue on Great Bay Beach.
It is a blatant lie that the cars are only there on the Wednesday Power Hour. Every Friday night and any other event on the WPS is open season for cars on the beach. The Port does not address the issue at hand, but instead advertises its agenda, which is a great initiative by the way.
Young and upcoming entrepreneurs should also be aware of the 1994 Beach Policy. How can you be an upcoming entrepreneur when you don't even abide by the law?
There are at least 5 security guards around the square at one time and let's not forget the public alley, so you would think that the Port and their WPS supervisor should be able to instruct the cars, which they allow onto the beach, not to park behind the Ocean's building.
Annemarijke Nieuwenhoven
Property manager Ocean's
