Doing vs. knowing

Saturday, 28 May 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

SRI Lankans dislike being described as lazy, but a recent survey suggests they while they overwhelmingly know what to do to stay healthy, many of them are reluctant to actually get out of their armchairs.

AIA Sri Lanka has released the Sri Lanka results of AIA’s 2016 Healthy Living Index Survey, which is carried out across Asia-Pacific. In the survey an astounding 95% of Sri Lankans acknowledge that there are definitely things they can do to improve their health but only 8% have taken major steps towards healthy living. So, whilst Sri Lankans have a high awareness of the importance of healthy living, they are not really doing much about it.

Whilst Sri Lankans were acutely aware of the importance of healthy living drivers, their self-assessment on how well they adopted those habits made for terrible reading. For example, 86% understood the importance of eating healthy food (compared to the regional average of 58%), but only 54% gave themselves a good rating in this aspect (-32% gap). Similarly, 81% agreed that regular exercise was important (against the regional average of 56%), but only 63% said they do so (-39% gap). The average time exercised is only 2.1 hours a week.

Sri Lankans also seem to be slacking when it comes to medical check-ups with less than half (49%) having had a medical check in the past year, despite high concerns about various medical conditions. Also, whilst 83% agreed that sufficient sleep is key to a healthy life, only 58% actually got enough snooze time (-25% points gap).

These numbers are even more terrifying given that Sri Lanka has an aging population. As much as 85% of ill-health can be traced back to Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure and kidney diseases among others, mirroring a developed country.

Given the relatively low health spending of 4% of GDP, NCD care in Sri Lanka is increasingly financed by out of pocket spending by the general public. Tackling NCDs in South Asia early on with better prevention and treatment would significantly spare poor people from the crushing burden of poor health, lost earnings, deepening poverty and the risk of disability and premature deaths.

A South Asia regional study has found that South Asians suffer their first heart attack six years earlier than other groups worldwide. They are also more vulnerable to diseases such as diabetes at an earlier age.

This burden of NCDs will rise in the future, in part due to further aging of the population with the doubling of the population over the age of 65 from 12.1% to 24.4% over the next 30 years. The burden of NCDs is also increasingly shifting towards the poor. Risk factors such as obesity, smoking, high sugar and salt diets, and alcoholism are also on the rise, helped along their destructive path by sedentary lifestyles.

Sri Lanka needs a holistic approach including legislation to regulate the amount of salt and sugar mixed into readymade food, but obviously the biggest need is for people to use the knowledge they already have to make significant lifestyle changes that result in healthy lives.