Results for non-communicable diseases

In the Pacific, non-communicable diseases account for around 70% of all deaths, in Fiji that number is 80%, and the tragedy is that most of these deaths are preventable, Dr Tim Martyn of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation in Fiji told delegates from Small Island States, meeting in Suva. Delegates looked at a Global Action Plan to respond to the food and nutrition challenges. People are eating food they can afford and that "is what is making them sick,” he said.

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 new report states that Tonga is the fourth most over-weight country in the world, and that Non-Communicable Diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, neoplasms and diabetes are a leading cause of adult death, while data showed that 36 percent of Tongan boys and 54 percent of Tongan girls were over-weight or obese. Death rates in the most productive age groups are three times higher than in Australia and New Zealand