Curaçao has a healthcare problem. But more importantly, Curaçao has a health problem.
That distinction matters.
The latest report by the College financieel toezicht (Cft) should be a wake-up call. The numbers are stark: Curaçao now spends 14.7 percent of its GDP on healthcare — significantly more than Aruba and Sint Maarten. That is not a sign of a healthy healthcare system. It is a sign of an unhealthy society.
And yet, the debate often remains trapped in the same cycle: more money for hospitals, more money for medication, more money for treatment.
Curaçao's state of the art hospital
But treatment is not prevention.
Curaçao is slowly becoming an island where chronic disease has become normalized. Diabetes, obesity, hypertension, heart disease and kidney failure are no longer isolated health issues. They are national problems, woven into daily life, family structures, work productivity and government finances.
The figures are alarming.
According to Curaçao Medical Center, one in five adults on the island now lives with diabetes. That is an extraordinary burden for a population of this size. The hospital reports that more than 300 people require dialysis every year due largely to diabetes-related kidney failure. In 2024 alone, 58 amputations were carried out because of diabetes complications. These are not just statistics. These are lives permanently changed.
At the same time, the Pan American Health Organization reports that nearly 65 percent of adults in Curaçao are overweight or obese. Hypertension affects more than one in five adults. These are the building blocks of a healthcare disaster.
And what is driving it?
Diet. Lifestyle. Culture. Environment.
Curaçao has become dependent on imported processed foods, sugary drinks and fast food. Healthy eating is often more expensive than unhealthy eating. Physical inactivity is widespread. Preventive screening is underused. Stress levels are high. Poverty makes healthy choices harder.
This is not simply an individual failure. It is a system failure.
We have built a healthcare model that waits for people to get sick.
We wait until the diabetes becomes severe. Until the blood pressure causes a stroke. Until obesity causes heart disease. Until kidney failure forces dialysis.
Then we spend millions trying to fix what could have been prevented.
That is backwards.
Imagine if even a fraction of the healthcare budget was redirected toward prevention.
Health education in schools. Daily exercise programs. Taxation on sugary drinks. Better urban planning for walking and cycling. Subsidies for healthy foods. Strong anti-obesity campaigns. Mandatory health screenings. Workplace wellness initiatives.
These are not luxuries. These are investments.
Because every diabetic prevented means less dialysis. Every kilogram lost means less hypertension. Every healthy child means fewer sick adults later.
Prevention is cheaper than treatment.
But prevention requires political courage.
It is easier to build hospital wings than to confront unhealthy eating habits. It is easier to approve medication budgets than to regulate food imports. It is easier to talk about healthcare than to transform public health.
Curaçao’s population is aging. More than a quarter of the island is now over 65. That means the pressure on healthcare will only intensify.
If we continue on this path, healthcare costs will consume the country’s future.
Less money for education. Less money for infrastructure. Less money for economic development.
A sick island cannot build a strong economy.
The Cft is right: reform is urgent. But that reform cannot be limited to hospitals and insurance funds.
It must start where health begins: at home, at school, in neighborhoods, in supermarkets, and in public policy.
Curaçao does not just need healthcare reform.
Curaçao needs a health revolution.