Local
Awareness campaign on eating disorders launched
By MaltaMedia News
Sep 7, 2007 - 4:49:29 PM

Taste Freedom, a local campaign promoting better understanding, prevention and effective treatment for the eating disorders Anorexia and Bulimia, kicked off with a breakfast meeting at the Hilton, Portomaso.

The awareness campaign is being supported by Vodafone Malta Foundation and HSBC Cares For Children Fund.

With the aim to evaluate the current situation in Malta regarding eating disorders, the breakfast meeting discussed new treatments for patients and support networks, including those specifically for the patients’ families.

Guest speaker Professor Bob Palmer, Senior lecturer in psychiatry at University of Leicester Medical School and an honorary consultant psychiatrist with Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, tackled the subject from a wider perspective. “Eating Disorders have an “image problem”. They are often portrayed as either an exotic rarity afflicting and sometimes killing young women at the threshold of lives that had been full of promise or as the expression of the foolishness of adolescent girls who take to excess the essentially trivial concerns with appearance and slimness that are widespread in our societies. Neither picture is accurate. Eating Disorders are neither rare nor trivial. They are serious disorders that deserve to be taken seriously,” said Prof Palmer.

Dr Dorothy Scicluna, clinical psychologist and Elaine Dutton, Health Promotion Officer at the Health Promotion Department, gave a more specific understanding of the Maltese reality. Dr Scicluna said the frequency rates of Eating Disorders in Malta seem to be similar to those found in the rest of Europe and the United States.

“We seem to have higher rates of Binge-eating disorder, which is possibly related to the high obesity levels present in Malta. In Malta we do not have an Eating Disorders Unit whilst we know that these disorders present the highest mortality rate among psychiatric sufferers.” Ms Dutton explained how every month, the health department receives an average of 6 to 8 calls from persons who are either passing through an eating disorder or whose children or friends are passing through this problem. “I wish we could give callers a contact number leading them to a multi-disciplinary team of people within the right setting.”

Gemma Mifsud Bonnici, Chairperson of the Vodafone Malta Foundation, said that one of the main aims of the Foundation is to help local communities in which it operates. “Such a campaign will prove beneficial to lots of individuals in Malta. You have all been invited here because in your own role you can do something to change and improve the service given to these people and their families. I’m sure we can all do that extra effort.”

Mrs Catherine Gonzi, Chairperson of the HSBC Cares for Children Fund, said “Eating disorders seriously hamper the physical and psychological development of adolescents. Societal messages that are being consumed by young people are very powerful and coupled with other personal and familial pressures, they add to the factors that may contribute towards eating disorders. HCCF hopes that its support of this laudable initiative will go some way in counteracting this.”

“Having suffered from anorexia myself, I wanted to set up a campaign to raise awareness about anorexia and bulimia. The incidence of these eating disorders in Malta is very high and the resources to deal with them, hugely inadequate. I appeal for a more comprehensive, accessible and affordable support structure set up for victims and their families. The media should also put these illnesses on their agenda and deal with them in an effective and sensitive way,” said Louisa Bartolo, Taste Freedom’s organiser.

Two girls who passed through and recovered from eating disorders said a few words about their experience.

Invited to this breakfast meeting were medical professionals, nutritionists, representatives from sports associations, counsellors, heads of all the Sixth Forms, media personalities, student body representatives, directors of modelling agencies and some politicians.

More information on the campaign is available at www.tastefreedom.org. Taste Freedom is also being supported by Tumas Group of Companies, Kristal Water, Agenda Bookshop, Middlesea Valletta Life, Air Malta and Malta International Airport.