Patricia Watson, Senior Staff Reporter
OCHO RIOS:
DEEP cultural belief as it relates to obesity and poverty are two of the major driving forces behind the increasing rates of obesity in developing countries and the poorer parts of developed countries.
According to Sir George Alleyne, director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), people need to liberate themselves from the "cultural factors that lead to our women and our men feeling that being fat is something immutable."
"It is a form of mental slavery to believe that there can be no change in the kinds of public policy that can recognize obesity as an important public health problem. Slavery is a recognition of dominance of one over another. It is a recognition that one person has silenced that part of the sole that is committed to struggle," Sir George said.
Sir George was delivering the keynote address at the 8th International Conference on Diabetes & Obesity banquet at the Renaissance Jamaica Jamaica Grande, Ocho Rios on Friday.
"This struggle for change for which the strategies of health promotion are particularly apt is one for all ages. It is a struggle for the young who are unafraid, for as the proverbs says 'young bird don't know storm'. It is also for the older and mature who have seen improvements in other areas and will build on the lessons learned in other times and other places," he continued. Sir George, giving his speech in the form of a fictional conversation with Senator Hillary Clinton who should have been the chief speaker, told the audience that she was also very concerned about poverty and obesity.
