MORE?than 50 000 Barbadians are hypertensive.
Speaking today at the fourth annual Diabetes Global Village Exposition at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Professor Trevor Hassell, said that 20 per cent of the entire population “that is, 54 000 people” is hypertensive.
Hassell, chairman of the National Commission for Chronic Non-Communicable Disease Commission, said that three-fifths of all Barbadian women and one-third of Barbadian men are overweight.
Hassell told dozens of Barbadians and sponsors at the Expo that the cost to the country of chronic disease and their complications of blindness, amputations and kidney failure, was staggering, stating that it was estimated that more than five per cent of Barbados’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was spent on chronic diseases. (MK)
Here, Hassell speaking with Podiatrist Simone McConnie and Sheena Warner of the National Commission for Chronic Non-Communicable Disease Commission.
More details coming.