Results for Alcohol

Drug users are headed to prison or the cemetery, warns Ned Cook, Team Leader for the Salvation Army Alcohol and Drugs Awareness Centre in Nuku’alofa. Some people in Tonga are trying drugs out of curiosity, especially methamphetamine, he told Matangi Tonga this week. “But if you keep experimenting with it, the addiction will grab hold of you”. Unfortunately, the services they provide at present "don't reach those desperately needing help".

Unhealthy people who become sick from eating the wrong foods are placing a huge economic burden on the government’s health systems, while 99% of adult Tongans currently remain at risk from so-called “lifestyle diseases”. Now a new government strategy will place the emphasis on young people, to give them a healthy start to life - but starting with the young means starting before babies are born.

A 2014 World Health Organisation (WHO) report on binge drinking has stated that 12% of Tongan males over the age of 15 years are “heavy episodic drinkers” (binge drinkers).