Prime Minister Hon. ‘Akilisi Pohiva is attracting world wide media attention after he made comments suggesting that Pacific Island leaders participate in a year long weight loss competition.

He made the comments during an interview with the Samoan Observer in Apia, Samoa last week where he was attending the Pacific Islands Forum Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

When asked about the problem of non-communicable diseases and child obesity in the Pacific, PM Pohiva told the Samoan Observer “…we should all get together for a weight loss competition; for an entire year, so when we meet the following year we will weigh in again and see who has lost the most.”

“It is not about who loses the most kilo’s but in order to shake off the weight, you must eat light and having that healthy mentality will go a long way.”

“Once the leaders are adapting to that mind set they would be determined to get their people on the same aspect and go from there.”

The latest statistics from the World Health Organisation reveal that Pacific Island countries are among the most obese in the world. Tonga is currently ranked 7th whilst Nauru is ranked first. The top ten most obese countries are all Pacific Island Countries: Nauru, Cook Islands, Palau, Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Niue, Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati and Micronesia.