Dominica Health And Wellness Symposium For Global Entrepreneurs Week

Category: Health Created on Wednesday, 16 November 2011 07:59

The Health and Wellness industry in Dominica will gain even greater exposure on Thursday  November 17, as a health and wellness symposium is being held in the Government Financial Centre Roseau, as part of Global Entrepreneurs Week. 

The health and wellness event, organized by herbalist Renauld Deschamps, is designed to promote the efficacy of natural medicines and strengthen the growing interest in this area. Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) is being observed in over 50 countries from November 12 to 18, 2011 and the Dominica Youth Business Trust (DYBT) is the official host of GEW 2011 in Dominica.

The health and wellness symposium is programmed for 3-6pm and features a line-up of presenters with specialist expertise in various fields of natural living. Presentations will include those on Organic Agriculture, Natural Birth, Herbs in Healthcare, Fasting, Eating for Health and Healthy Lifestyle Motivation. In addition to the presentations, the symposium will also host many exhibition stalls selling fresh herbs, ital food snacks and natural products.

Deschamps who is a graduate of the Dominica Youth Business Trust programme is the founder of ‘Rootz Herbal Remedies’ and has been a respected herbalist for many years. He now also runs a thriving vegan restaurant, ‘Rootz Healing Foods’ in the centre of Roseau. He sees this event as part of the efforts to promote the Dominica Health and Wellness industry and create public sensitization on the ability to live lives of full quality and heal through natural means. He has been involved in many initiatives to promote preventative health care and hosted a similar event in 2008. Deschamps has also participated in several regional programmes to strengthen the herbal businesses arena and has also been involved in the Dominica Annual Health and Wellness Expo for the past 3 years.

Dominica has a longstanding reputation of being a healthy island with one of the highest numbers of Centenarians per capita in the world. One of the world’s oldest living persons, ‘Ma Pampo’ was reportedly 128 years when she died in 2003 and there are many other testimonies of individuals in their 90’s and 100’s who still farm, walk and prepare their own meals with keen sight , hearing and memory. These examples are a testimony to a simple life in harmony with nature.

In recent years, Dominica has become a hub for health and wellness in the Caribbean with many professional therapists offering natural health therapies such as massage, reflexology, yoga, chiropractic, herbalism, physiotherapy, osteopathy and many more. These therapies are complimented by the range of locally sourced and produced body care items such as soaps, creams, lotions and essential oils. Dominica also emanates health and wellness from the natural environment with fresh clean water, mountain rainforests, healthy local foods and areas with healing hot sulphur water. Indeed, the small village of Wotten Waven in the Roseau Valley is now known as the ‘Spa Capital’ of the Nature Island with the creation of a number of businesses providing sulphur springs bathing pools.

Yet Dominica like the rest of the Caribbean and the world is facing the epidemic of non-communicable diseases such as Cardio-vascular disease, Cancer, Chronic Respiratory Diseases and Diabetes which are responsible for 74% of all deaths in the region. Many of the indigenous healing methods are being forgotten and the tradition of eating what is locally grown is being cast aside in favour of fast food restaurants and packaged convenience foods available in the supermarkets. Lifestyles which were once physically active are now more sedentary with the effect of increasing obesity. With the rich resources available in Dominica for maintaining a healthy lifestyle it is lamentable that the problems of modernization are so prevalent in every sector of society. As such, many in the industry are keen to share knowledge and spread awareness on natural health and wellness and Thursday’s symposium will be yet another positive showcase of these efforts.

Entry for the Health and Wellness symposium on Thursday, November 17, is free although a contribution will be appreciated. The event is being broadcast live on several radio stations and recorded for television channels.

Editor-in-Chief’s Note:  Terri Henry is freelance contributor to MNI Alive. She is a writer & wellness consultant with a focus on natural health, ecological awareness, and sustainability. She is also a mother of two and blogs on the subject of natural parenting at ‘Child of the Nature Isle’ (www.childofnatureblog.com)