TONGA – The first regional conference on the Pacific’s leading cause of death is underway in Tonga’s capital, Nuku‘alofa

Leaders and partners from around 14 different countries have gathered for the first Pacific Non-Communicable Diseases summit.

A global nutrition report released last week showed Pacific countries were making no progress in implementing healthy diet policies despite having the highest number of obese and diabetic people.

Paula Vivili, the Pacific Community’s Director of Public Health, disagrees with some figures in the report and said a regional NCD Roadmap produced in 2014 means

many Pacific governments are actively trying to combat the problem.

“The Pacific is not referred to often as the NCD’s capital in the world for no reason and there’s been a lot of work that’s been done. Obviously more needs to be done if we were to make a difference,” he said.

“Hence, we have taken this opportunity to bring together leaders and partners to have a discussion about it.”

The latest report on the state of nutrition around the world puts Pacific island countries at the top of malnutrition statistics.

According to the report backed by the World Health Organisation, the rise is due to the increase in obesity rates rather than people being undernourished.

Pacific countries made up eight of the top ten countries with the highest prevalence of adult obesity, with Palau topping the list at 80 per cent of its population.

Statistics show most of the region will fail to reach global nutrition targets set for 2025.

The director general of the regional body, the Pacific Community, Colin Tukuitonga, says despite efforts to combat non-communicable diseases in the region, there’s been little progress.

“There’s been a lot of work and effort by different Pacific Island countries, but we’re not seeing the kinds of results that we’d like to see.

“There are very few indications that obesity is being slowed down, that diabetes is declining. We’re not seeing any of that.”

The report showed Papua New Guinea had one of the highest rates of stunted growth due to malnutrition and the highest prevalence of anaemia in women of reproductive age.

Helen Palik, a technical officer for Nutrition and Diabetics in PNG, says there’s a big gap in food education and getting information to communities isn’t easy in a country with more than 800 dialects.

Above all, she says socio-economic problems contribute largely to malnutrition.

“Many people think that nutrition is all about food, it’s all about socio-economic issues or developmental issues.

“So violence against women, gender equality, climate change and food security issues are all contributing factors to the extent of the problem of malnutrition we have in the country.”

Vivili, the Pacific Community’s public health directo,r is dismissing figures in the report which showed Tonga as having the highest prevalence of diabetes.

Vivili says while the figures differ from Tonga’s own surveys, he does agree that diabetes is a significant issue in the region.

He also says Tonga is leading in its policies to tackle NCD’s, despite the report stating that most Pacific countries showed no progress in implementing healthy diet policies.

“We have put taxes on unhealthy foods like mutton flaps, fizzy drinks, large noodles and such foods. And have taken off the tax for instance on fruit and vegetables, so now people find fruits imported from overseas, much more accessible.

“The goal should be to make healthy choices the easier choices.”

Tukuitonga says policy changes need to go further than just the health department.

“I don’t think it’s an issue on health policies, if anything it’s an issue on food policies, on trade, opportunities for exercise and more physical activity, promotion of sport – all of those things that are actually outside of the health sector.

“And that’s the issue, because most people see this as a health issue when it is not.”

The report says low to middle income governments spend around two per cent of their budget on nutrition, but this is not enough, given almost half of deaths are due to NCDs.

- RNZI