The impact of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on the country cannot be overlooked amid the threat of Covid-19, health chiefs say.
Health Minister Molwyn Joseph said 70 percent of the 170 deaths in Antigua and Barbuda so far this year are due to NCDs such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer and heart disease.
He said while the world will develop a Covid-19 vaccine, deaths due to NCDs will continue if nothing is done to remedy the problem.
“You are worried about Covid but you must also be concerned about your lifestyle, what you are consuming, all the sugar, the fats, the starches, and not exercising, not resting. This is an opportunity in the context of Covid to say, let me make a renewed commitment to my own wellbeing. Let me take my life seriously,” Joseph added.