Page 20 - IB FEB 2018

Health

Pacific’s health crisis

ment in which people live and work will sachets, so all these need to be considered
have a bearing.” to make such a decision.”
“To make a decision for banning SSBs
Sugar-sweetened beverages or any other product, one needs not only
Pacific Islands Countries and Territories to consider health impacts but need to
(PICTs) have some of the highest rates of also be mindful of the trade commitments
By Priya Chand obesity and diabetes in the world. Global made by these countries to WTO and
research has demonstrated a strong link other agreements that they need to comply
NON communicable diseases is prevalent between sugar-sweetened beverage with,” she said.
in the Pacific that it has become a crisis- a (SSB) consumption and subsequent risk She said the health education conducted
matter which authorities need to address of overweight, obesity, dental caries and by health ministries was to inform people
urgently. type II diabetes. to make the right decision and choose
However talking about it to an audience According to the Pacific Community, healthy options.
doesn’t necessarily make one ‘all ears’ to address the impact of SSBs on non- “I think we need to strike a balance
about it. communicable diseases, it was crucial to somewhere and increase taxation on
In fact, the Pacific tops the ten countries understand the level of SSB consumption unhealthy products as well as decrease
in the world for overweight and obesity. in Pacific Island Countries and Territories or no taxation on healthy alternatives,”
Pacific Island Forum leaders acknowl- (PICTs). she added.
edge that ‘NCDs already undermine social In 2013, 99 million litres of soft drink at
and economic development in the Pacific, a value of US$105 million was imported Tobacco use in the Pacific
and are financially unsustainable. into PICTs, at an average cost of US$1.06 The World Health Organisation (WHO)
NCDs impose increasingly large, yet of- per litre. says tobacco use was the only risk factor
ten preventable financial costs on national Across the Pacific region where there is common to all four main NCDs and exac-
budgets and the economy more broadly. a population of 10.6 million, an average erbate virtually all NCDs.
While “lifestyle choices” have often been of 9.4 litres of soft drink per person was According to the Pacific Possible Health
regarded as the leading cause, Pacific Com- imported; this does not account for coun- Report that was launched at the Pacific
munity Director General Colin Tukuitonga tries that produce SSBs locally. Non-Communicable Diseases Summit
said calling them lifestyle diseases was Islands Business spoke to the Pacific in Tonga in 2016, tobacco use was the
wrong. He said it implied that people had Community’s public health nutritionist, most significant behavioural risk factor
a choice when, in fact, many Pacific people Elisiva Na’ati about the current crisis. of chronic respiratory disease (CRD) and
and especially children were “victims of She said that “banning” SSB drinks in cancer.
their circumstances.” the countries was something governments WHO notes that “tobacco is the leading
Speaking at the 15th World Congress on could use as an intervention measure to behavioural risk factor causing substan-
Public Health in Melbourne, Australia last curtail the crisis. This is what the small tially large number of potentially prevent-
year, Tukuitonga said “it is actually quite territory of Tokelau has done, although the able deaths worldwide - one death every
an expensive business having a healthy ban is limited to fizzy drinks only. six seconds.”
diet and to simply say well at the end of the Na’ati says the purpose of taxing sugar “Prevalence of tobacco consumption
day it is a choice thing and it’s individual sweetened beverages was to discour- in the Pacific is much higher than the
responsibility is unfortunate because we age and reduce consumption of these global average of 21 per cent,” the report
know that there are systemic issues that food items, but “SSB comes in different revealed.
also have a bearing on this. The environ- products including fruit juices and drink In 2012, adult males in Kiribati and

90%
80% 77% 73% 73% 70%
70% 67% 69% 70% 60%
60%
50% 44%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
FSM Fiji Kiribati Marshall PNG Samoa Solomon Tuvalu
Islands Islands Vanuatu

FIGURE 1 — Estimated percentage of total deaths from NCDs for selected countries. Source: World Bank 2016

20 Islands Business, February 2018
20 Islands Business, February 2018