GET LIT, STAY FIT!

Motivate yourself to have fun while exercising. It doesn’t have to be boring. You can try dancing/ Zumba, cycling, and swimming, which are all exciting activities that can help you stay fit.

Thehealth of a nation, is the wealth of a nation. In fact, a healthy populace is directly linked to a country’s prosperity and its ability to flourish.

To meet those goals, we must look at our individual and collective health and wellness from a holistic point of view. One that acknowledges the balance of physical, intellectual, and emotional wellbeing. Being healthy is no longer simply being free of disease – now, “healthy” also means happier, more fulfilled, and longer lives.

The science is clear; a focus on overall wellness helps to prevent the onset of noncommunicable diseases like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease, all conditions that lead to an overuse of our tertiary healthcare systems.

For all our accomplishments, recent studies show that The Bahamas has the most unhealthy population in the region; with rates of obesity, and cardio vascular disease reaching alarming levels. A focus on holistic wellness is essential and vital to the survival of our people and to the delivery of 21st-century healthcare services throughout the country.

As the Ministry of Health and Wellness, we are moving quickly to implement the wellness and lifestyle modifications needed to help Bahamians take ownership of their health and capitalize on programmes that focus on nutrition, physical activity, as well as mental health strategies that allow individuals to improve their own quality of life.

Our strategy seeks to ensure that wellness programmes are activated in schools and at the grassroots level in every constituency, and every community across the country. This multi-sectoral initiative will engage the talents and resources available across both the public and private sector. We will engage with wellness champions whose mission will be to deliver wellness instruction, teach nutrition, engage in physical activity, and mental health strategies to at-risk communities throughout our archipelago.

We, at the Ministry of Health and Wellness, realise that a holistic and whole-society approach is the only way to reduce the prevalence of unwellness in the country. It is our responsibility to push for behavioural changes, while also maintaining topof-the-line healthcare facilities and implementing other components like the National Health insurance plan, programmes that undergird the healthcare system.

Here at the Wellness Unit of the Ministry of Health and Wellness, our mission is “To advance and support the move towards a healthier Bahamas – person by person, community by community, island by island.” This is our focus, because we are Bahamian too, and we truly believe that Your Wellness Matters. Together, let’s look at the health challenges that impact Bahamians. Let’s reaffirm our commitment to prioritising, developing, and enforcing strategies that not only combat health concerns, but ensure better access to the healthcare systems that support us. Together, we can succeed in overcoming our unwellness and truly become healthy and thriving citizens of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Let us all embark on this exciting journey to national wellness, together!