‘Reaching for a better life with good health’ – Health Expo opens

President David Granger on Wednesday officially declared open the annual Health Expo at the Sophia Exhibition Centre.

In his remarks, the President said if Guyana is to achieve the objectives set out in Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG), it must project the three priorities on which our national healthy strategy is based.

These priorities include universal access to public health coverage, universal primary health care and preventative health care. The Head of State restated his administration’s commitment to the objective of a better life with good health, in accordance with the SDG’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which speaks to healthy lives and human well-being.

Primary health care, he noted is a pillar of the national public health strategy, titled Health Vision 2020.

“It is the vehicle for ensuring universal health coverage and is one of the bases for pursuing the national health agenda,” President Granger said.

According to the Head of State, no public health system or national health strategy would be complete or successful without emphasis on preventative care.

Characterised by alcohol and drug abuse, the excessive consumption of processed and fast food and lack of recreation and sport, Preventable lifestyle diseases, the President highlighted, have contributed to the increased the incidence of non-communicable diseases such as cancers, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and obesity.

These diseases, along with road and workplace accidents increases public health care costs and reduces human productivity.

Therefore, the Expo’s theme, “Reaching for a better life with good health,” he noted, “reminds us all of the indisputable connection between good health and a good life.”

Prevention, he emphasised is one of the principal means to improve citizens’ mental, physical and social wellbeing.

“It begins in the home, is reinforced at school and at work and is fortified at the national, regional and neighbourhood levels,” President Granger said. (Extracted and modified from DPI)