Today, PAHO Guyana Country Office in collaboration with the Ministry of Health - Guyana and the CARICOM: Caribbean Community Secretariat and other partners commemorates Caribbean Wellness Day Walk 2023 and joined the community marathon walk of a distance of over 5 miles. This year's global theme is "The care we need, the care we want." This theme echoes and continues the call of World Health Day: "Health for All." Likewise, the wellness week follows the general theme of CARIBBEAN WELLNESS DAY 2020-2024, "Power through Collective Action" since collective action and community participation are key to creating critical awareness of the need to move towards more sustainable, and fair care model. This is a matter for the society at large, and the objective is to highlight and claim the care of all people as a central element for health, well-being, and equity.
PAHO Guyana staff participated in CWD walk
HSS Advisor, Mr. Daniel Albrecht
PAHO baby Eliana on her first CWD walk.
Talking about care is recognizing that all people need care. Although childhood, old age, times of illness, or situations of dependency require specific and more intensive care, all of us are social beings who inherently need care throughout our lives.
The COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the importance of health promotion and community well-being. Where we live and work, where our families live, where our children go to school – our neighborhoods determine our health and wellbeing. The neighborhoods in which we live are important for fostering healthy lives and creating social cohesion. Community engagement and sustainable public policies and solutions could help create health-promoting neighborhoods, thus improving quality of life. Therefore, I commend the organizers of this week's Caribbean Wellness Week activity, drawing our attention to the things we can all do to care for ourselves as well as others.
Mr. Daniel Albrecht providing CWD remarks.
PAHO staff Dr. Aroskar and Dr. Forlack
Mr. Daniel Albrecht, Officer-in-Charge, PAHO/WHO Guyana said, "let's take a whole of society approve to commit to caring for all through the promotion of activities that encourage persons to take care of both their physical, mental, and social well-being, to lead a healthy and productive life in all settings". "We will also call on governments at all levels national, sub-national, and local to promote and implement policies and comprehensive care systems, where Local governments can play a very important role in this regard for the health, well-being, and equity of their communities. This walk was aimed at showing care by encouraging people to live a healthy lifestyle and contribute to sustainable development".
Mr. Malcolm Watkins, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health
Participants
Participants
Meanwhile, Mr. Malcolm Watkins, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health said, "despite our government's commitment to tackle NCDs and improve the lives of people living with Chronic Diseases, the onus is on every Guyanese to make the conscionable change in the way they eat, their level of physical activity and their avoidance of the habits of drinking and smoking.
We call on all Guyanese to unite to fight NCDs, educate each other on good lifestyle practices, heed the advice of their physicians, use their medications correctly and in a timely fashion, and include physical activity and exercise in their daily routine.
So, on this occasion of Caribbean Wellness Day, I also take this opportunity to urge all Guyanese to continue to be safe and safeguard their health by continuing to practice hand washing, get vaccinated and begin to make those changes towards a healthy lifestyle".
PAHO/WHO Guyana will remain committed to the call of "care for all" and will continue to work with the Ministry of Health to develop policies and implement programmes to enhance the lives of the people of Guyana.
