Make healthy food more attractive, lower tariffs on imports– Hon Penn
“I think we need to focus on preventative health measures. One of the things we did when in Government, where we had the healthy living, healthy lifestyle, and I think that transitioned into the CHIP Programme that you have now. We need to change the discussion, have a paradigm shift in terms of the way we look at health care in the territory,” he remarked while being interviewed on the UMOJA show on ZBVI 780 AM on October 25, 2021.
NHI should focus on prevention- Hon Penn
He also took a swipe at the National Health Insurance (NHI), stating that they too should be refocusing their efforts towards preventative measures.
He stated: “NHI should be focused on preventing persons from getting sick instead of trying to treat the people when they get sick.”
“A healthier population also means a more healthy economy, that means they are more productive in the work force, it means persons are living longer, they are contributing more to the system so overall it is not just for the health of the patient but for the nation’s economy if persons live a healthier lifestyle.”
The host of the show, Mr Cromwell Smith, asked Hon Pennif he felt that more should be done legislatively to encourage persons to live healthier lives.
It's about good decisions not legislation- Penn
He replied that he did not feel that “we shouldn’t put laws in place to legislate certain things.”
Penn said persons should make the decisions that benefit them.
“The first thing we have to figure out is how does healthier living and healthy lifestyles means, and what that looks like. We have to then look at how we can get this implemented, whether it is in the schools or it is within our communities, in our older population or in the baby boomers, as you call them. I don’t like the heavy-handed approach that we have to legislate anything on to our population; I don’t think everything needs to be legislated.”
He added: “I think if we have a proper education campaign, will make sure we have a proper cultural shift in terms of the way that we present healthy food and make healthy food more attractive and if it is an issue of cost, we need to look at lowering the tariffs on foods that are healthy coming into the territory.”
.png)
.png)
.png)
Follow Us On
17 Responses to “Make healthy food more attractive, lower tariffs on imports– Hon Penn”
There is nobody fighting for us or putting in place consumer Protection laws or price control because most of them either have shares or getting kick backs. GOVERNMENT OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS DO BETTER!!!!
It's accountability.
I hope we can see some taffif changes to assist healthy eating.
They only put food on sale when it’s spoiled. Never to help you the consumer. Why would they pass savings on now?
The reason our food sustainability is near zero is because of the concept of a supermarket and globalization.
A few plant stores are following their model and importing plants to resell instead of propagating or sourcing locally.
Duty free customs and cheap international shipping. People go to work and the supermarket imports the cheap food from the big farms to sell it to us at unnecessarily inflated prices.
We’re eating genetically modified organisms from pesticide sprayed farms. Every household has a porch yet we’re looking to a farmer to blame. Dollars aren’t edible.
All of our ancestors lived sustainably without technology.
How about talking education on marine food and replenishing populations of well adapted edible native plants. Instead of boosting left-way’s profit margins.