FIFTY SIX per cent of Jamaica's population over the age of 30 is suffering from obesity although the most common form of death on the island is due to the development of hypertension and diabetes.
However, according to Dr. Winston Dawes, senior medical officer of the May Pen Hospital it was no longer possible to treat all the cases of hypertension and diabetes because of how expensive this has become.
In an address to the weekly luncheon of the Rotary Club of Kingston at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston yesterday, he said more attention would have to be given to improving personal health care.
Indications are that these diseases will become a greater factor even more so in the future, he said, In the case of diabetes there will be an increase in the number of people affected by this disease over the next 20 years to move the figure from the current 10 per cent of the population to 20 per cent, he said.
He noted that 40 years ago it was much cheaper to deal with health issues and recalled that Jamaica had successfully conquered such problems as malaria, pneumonia and tuberculosis.
On the matter of personal health care, Dr. Dawes emphasised the importance of proper dieting, exercise and getting rid of the habit of smoking.
