Newsday Reporter
THA Secretary of Health, Wellness and Social Protection has reported an increase in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and diabetes cases on the island.
At the launch of a health and wellness campaign titled “Play Mas, Live Well” on September 29 at the Hochoy Charles Administrative Complex in Calder Hall, Dr Faith Brebnor made the startling revelation as she encouraged people to take charge of their health.
“This was a good opportunity to say to the people of Tobago, to the people of TT, that we need us – all of us – to really be healthy – head to toe, and head to toe includes those…private parts.”
She said before becoming health secretary, she along with others spoke publicly on the issue of contracting HIV and being able to live a long, healthy life with medication.
“We really are seeing increased rates of almost all of the STIs throughout the island.
“So way back when, when we started talking about HIV and the thing that we were looking at, or the images that we looked at included people looking very sick, and then we went through that wave and then we recognised that there was medication that was available for us and that you did not have to die from HIV but you could live a very long, healthy life with HIV, and then somehow we stopped talking.”
She noted that with these concerning statistics will be addressed in the “Play Mas, Live Well” campaign and accompanying initiatives.
“We stopped talking about STIs and we stopped talking about all of the other things, about consent and those areas, and we decided that this was a great opportunity because those things, we are seeing the numbers raised again. This was a good opportunity to say to the people of Tobago, to the people of Trinidad and Tobago, that we really need all of us to be healthy.”
Using information shared by a health practitioner, she said people in their thirties are reporting HbA1c (blood glucose) readings over 14 per cent. Readings below 5.7 per cent are considered normal, while prediabetes is between 5.7 per cent and 6.4 per cent. Diabetes is diagnosed with readings 6.5 per cent or higher.
“We now have significantly younger people who are having long-term (diabetes), because HbA1c is not because you drank something and your sugar is high now, it is because you have had uncontrolled high sugar, in essence, in your system for a long time.
“So this means we have increased numbers of young people (with diabetes), because this used to be what happened to the older people who are treating with these issues.”
The launch ended with the first aerobic burnout session.
