Non communicable diseases is prevalent in the Pacific that it has become a crisis- a matter which authorities need to address urgently. However talking about it to an audience doesn’t necessarily make one ‘all ears’ about it. In fact, the Pacific tops the ten countries in the world for overweight and obesity.
Pacific Island Forum leaders acknowledge that ‘NCDs already undermine social and economic development in the Pacific, and are financially unsustainable. NCDs impose increasingly large, yet often preventable financial costs on national budgets and the economy more broadly.
While “lifestyle choices” have often been regarded as the leading cause, Pacific Community Director General Colin Tukuitonga said calling them lifestyle diseases was wrong. He said it implied that people had a choice when, in fact, many Pacific people and especially children were “victims of their circumstances.”
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