Awareness is key in fighting non-communicable diseases
The territory’s increasingly active participation in Breast Cancer Awareness Month is exactly the sort of collective action that is needed to help the Virgin Islands fight back against all chronic non-communicable diseases.
In recent days, pink has been a common sight around the islands, as members of the BVI Cancer Society and other organisations spearheaded activities designed to educate the public about breast cancer. Free screenings have been offered, and information has been distributed at grocery stores and other public places.
This community effort is invaluable. Globally, breast cancer is the leading cancer killer among women between the ages of 20 and 59 in high-income countries, according to the World Health Organization. But, if detected early, the disease is usually curable.
This is why education and preventive measures are so important. If women get screened regularly, they are more likely to discover the disease in time to save their lives.
This point is particularly salient in the Caribbean, where cancer is one of many non-communicable diseases whose incidence is on the rise. Health experts attribute this trend in large part to increasingly unhealthy lifestyles.
Fortunately, the Virgin Islands, like many of its Caribbean neighbours, has been fighting back. For example, the House of Assembly recently passed the National Non-Communicable Disease Prevention Strategy, a ten-year framework designed in large part to encourage healthy living.
This is a very positive step, but it will take more than a strategy to turn around residents’ unhealthy habits. It will take a comprehensive community effort similar to the one held in recent days to raise awareness about breast cancer.