Tag Archives: Health

Aug 8 2012

LOVE PEOPLE Wants To Fight Obesity

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the nation’s leading agency working on the prevention and control of diseases, including obesity (yes, obesity is a disease), there has been a striking and frightening rise in obesity in the United States.

The CDC has put out in 2009-2010 that the number of adults suffering from obesity in the country is more than 35.7% or one-third of the adult population and approximately 17% or 12.5 million children and adolescents aged 2-19 years old.

Obesity must not be confounded with overweight. To determine if someone is either obese or overweight, the person’s Body Mass Index (BMI), a relationship between the person’s weight and his or her height, is to be calculated. This figure is important in that it gives indication on the person’s amount of body fat. For example, an adult with a BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight, whereas one with a BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese.

The disease has some serious and costly implications on the health of the population. An obese individual is prone to or has a natural inclination to many conditions -such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes type 2 and certain types of cancer, some of the leading causes of death in the country.

Four years ago, precisely in 2008, the CDC confirmed that “medical costs associated with obesity were estimated at $147 billion.” That being said, any smart approach to reducing health care costs in America must take into account the prevention of obesity through a system of health promotion to include healthy eating and exercise, which can be hugely impacted by socioeconomics.

In the spirit of keeping its members healthy, the discussion group Love People on Facebook is inviting everyone to take part in its 2nd Love People Power Walk at Prosper Park in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday, August 11, 2012 at 6:00 PM sharp. Point of meeting:  corner of Ocean Ave and Parkside Ave (inside the McDonald’s). To register, inbox Star Point on Facebook.

Apr 6 2012

Martelly in Miami: A Surgery Of Controversy

President Martelly of Haiti

According to an official statement issued by the Office of the President in Port-au-Prince, President Martelly left Haiti Wednesday to Miami, Fl where he will undergo a surgical intervention in his right shoulder. No mention of the nature and scope of the surgery is made. He will return a week later, precisely on Thursday, April 12, 2012 to resume his activities.

Apparently, the fact that he is traveling abroad for medical reasons does not please many. Some are arguing that he should not be traveling to the US to be operated on; he should stay home and be treated by Haitian doctors and nurses only for the sake of inspiring confidence in the Haitian health care system. Are these people serious, really?

Of course, that is what every president would hope to see. But such is not the case for Haiti. And who said he will not be operated on by a Haitian orthopedist in Miami -one of our own who had studied in Haiti and left the country for political reasons or because he or she was not valued enough in his or her own country?

This argument, which I consider as a blame on the president’s account, would have made sense had Martelly been president for the past 26 years and nothing been done to structure our health care system and the delivery of care in the country.

Remember, Martelly has been in power for only 11 months; it took years to bring our health care system and the practice of the science of medicine to such a situation of chaos.

His predecessors are done messing up everything, now they want to hold him accountable for the state of affairs in the country. At some point in time, the practice of medicine in Haiti used to be one of the best in the region; it is not so anymore for years.

Aristide and Preval, these two Lavalas guys, for the twenty years they were in power, did not do anything of substance to make sure that their successors would not have to travel abroad should they need care as basic as emergency. They messed it up for all of us. So if blames need to be cast, they need to direct them at these two guys, not Martelly. In fact, did Rene Preval not have to travel abroad, to Cuba precisely, to have his prostate cancer taken care of? I did not hear all these chatters when that happened. Why now I am reading about all these jabbers? I guess Cuba is not foreign to Haiti, America is. Seriously, these healthcare nationalists need to find better ways to show their nationalism.