Guyana collecting data for 20-year health forecast

Last Updated on Sunday, 10 May 2026, 21:16 by Writer

President Irfaan Ali says the Ministry of Health has begun collecting health data from school children to forecast the state of Guyanese health especially for non-communicable diseases.

Already, he said with assistance from the New York-based Mount Sinai Health System, one of the United States’ oldest and largest teaching hospitals, Guyana has already generated the “full data set” from students in nursery and primary schools.

“We did the full health analysis so we know in 20 years what type of problems we’re looking at,” Dr Ali told a Guyana-Canada business forum.

He added that the data set from secondary school students was nearing completion.

“The strategy will be built on data,” he said, even as he remarked that major hurdles are lifestyle and culture.

The President also says mobile containerised testing facilities will be deployed in communities across the country to test blood pressure and blood sugar levels.

The President says that through an artificial intelligence-aided system, sick persons will be flagged and contacted for urgent medical attention.

“We are now going to set up some self-testing labs all across the country so you can go into these containerised labs. You can check your pressure, your sugar. You can input it from your phone or input it into the system itself. It goes to a central database. There’s a backend that is monitoring you as you put in this, then you’ll receive a call,” he said.

He also told the Guyana-Canada business forum that a Canada-based cardiologist would be appointed to a team of experts to examine the “unintended consequence” of development on health such as the impact of fast foods.

Referring to Guyanese cardiologist Dr Mahendra Carpen’s concern that many young Guyanese were dying from heart disease and diabetes, he said that was evident in Guyana and the Guyanese diaspora.

“With increasing development in Guyana, things will get worse. All the fast food, commercial determinants of health, and the cost of culture,” the Guyanese president said.

He said the issue cuts across all ministries and policies.

The Ministry of Health has already collected data on prostate health through a screening system that was done by providing free vouchers for men to go to any of several private laboratories.

Several persons have been referred to doctors for various levels of care and treatment.

The government is on record as saying that churches, mosques and temples will be involved in testing of persons for diseases.