BY SOLANGE TEGWI
“What is sweet in the mouth may not be good for the body, so when you open your mouth don’t close your eyes. Globally, 7 out of 10 deaths are from non-communicable diseases (NCDs): cancer, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, kidney and cardiovascular diseases, according to World Health Organization report 2022.
“Diseases not transmitted through sex nor genes, but through our own mouths. Chronic diseases acquired through the overconsumption of ultra-processed foods and drinks, having excessive amounts of sugar, salt, calories, saturated fats, or trans-fats beautifully packaged and arrayed on our supermarket counters, irresistibly inviting us to have a bite or sip. An inescapable trap into the deep ditch of death, premature snatching our lives, and that of our loved ones. First, we died by germs, then by viruses and today by fat, sugar and salt.”
The above information was revealed during a Media Café on nutritional labeling and the issue of preventing non-communicable diseases.
It was held on January 24, at the CBC headquarters, Mvan, Yaounde.
The event which was organized and chaired by Reconciliation and Development Association (RADA) president and CEO, Ferdinant Sonyuy was held under the theme “Healthy Food Policies Adoption: A Public Health Tool for Preventing Non-Communicable Diseases in Cameroon”
The media cafe was attended by members and president of RREMAPSEN (African Media Network for the Promotion of Health, Environment, Gender, and Human Rights)
Talking on the need and significance of raising public awareness and garnering support for the following urgent and critical public health policies, Prince Mpondo, one of the facilitators said front-of-package warning labelling and marketing restrictions regulation for unhealthy packaged food products are harming the health of the population, especially youths and children.
According to him, all stakeholders from producers to consumers to policymakers, none is exempted in this health fight. Consumers, he said must reduce buying and consuming these unhealthy products, whether homemade or imported. A reduction in consumption will immediately incentivize manufacturers to reformulate products with excessive levels of nutrients of health concern.
He said, policymakers should increase taxes on this unhealthy produce while encouraging the healthy ones gain more market and visibility.
“Ensuring a drastic reduction in the consumption of these harmful products immediately through policies like taxation and marketing restrictions, and then focus on having producers set targets and reformulate their products to respect these healthy targets” Prince Mpondo stated.
Questions like, “Can sports help? Are beer consumers exempted from NCDs? Is consuming alternative drinks like natural fruit preferable? What about the excess fertilizers and insecticides used by farmers in growing them? Products wherein are written 0-sugar like Coca-Cola 0, are they more safe for consumption?” keep popping up.
The president of RADA explained that all these are marketing strategies from the producers, especially about Coca-Cola 0. If they don’t have sugar but are sweet, then they should have another kind of sweetener. In all, Ferdinant Sonyuy cautioned consumers to consumers to consume whether natural (apples, pineapple, watermelon, cucumber) or processed foods (biscuits, cakes, jambon, energy drinks) with a lot of moderation as the immediate solution, while waiting for government’s action in tackling the problem from the roots.
Sonyuy appreciated the Minister of Public Health, Dr. Manaouda Malachie, and his close collaborators for their relentless work in the promotion of healthy diets and prevention and control of NCDs, for their resilience, professionalism, and prioritization of the importance of promoting healthy diets, as demonstrated in the development of the nation’s action plan for the promotion of healthy diets, which includes this taxation perspective, not forgetting the media for their positive contributions and role in public health as awareness creators and advocates.