Ad-hoc committee of the Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles on Overweight and Obesity happy with outcome of meetings on St. Maarten
On the 9th and 10th of July 2008 the ad-hoc committee of Parliament on Overweight and Obesity held meetings with various health and medical entities regarding the activities, actions and projects related to addressing the problems associated with overweight and obesity on the Windward Islands. Senator Jacqueline Spencer (Chairlady of the ad-hoc committee), and Senators Erno Labega, Frans Richardson, Reginald Zaandam, Dwigno Puriel and James Kroon interchanged ideas with representatives of the Sector Health Careâ??s Preventive Health Department, the Pediatrician Organization, the Windward Islands Medical Association, St. Maarten Medical Association and the Healthy Lifestyles Foundation. Discussed were an overview of the situation on the Windward Islands as to what has been done do date, and how the Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles can play a role in addressing the problems.
The Ad-hoc committee, based on recommendations will appoint a panel of experts to inventarise the problems and provide a comprehensive plan with recommendation to address the problem, which will then be handled in the Central Committee of Parliament.
Senator Spencer is "very pleased with the outcome of the meetings on St. Maarten and expresses her appreciation for the professional manner in which all participants contributed to the meeting and for the amount of work already in progress on St. Maarten to address this serious health concern."
Senator Spencer stresses the importance of the population to takes the recommendations seriously and address the problems of overweight and obesity, as the consequences may lead to among others, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, and diabetes which result in blindness, amputations and to prevent a growing wheel-chair generation.