World Health Organisation’s Strategic Planning Officer, Shiva Anjini Singh says non-communicable diseases are becoming a socio-economic burden for Fiji as it accounts for an estimated 84% of premature deaths.
While highlighting the overview of the situation analysis of NCDs in Fiji during the Wellness and NCD consultation Workshop today, Singh says emphasis must be placed on primary prevention and enhancing wellness in the communities rather than crisis management approaches which only focus on NCD control and strengthening resilience in disasters and pandemics.
She says NCDs is high in Fiji because there is a lack of physical activity, poor diets, abuse of tobacco and alcohol, and environmental factors.
Singh adds according to a 2011 survey on NCDs, 66% of the total population was overweight or obese, 31% had raised blood pressure, 30.6% had taken alcohol, 85% ate less than 5 combined servings of fruits and vegetables in a day and 60.6% population smoke daily.
She says Fiji should now be heading towards new strategies that can minimise the impacts of NCDs.
Singh says 8.2 million lives can be saved globally by 2030 if good healthy practices are being followed.
Minister for Health Doctor Ifereimi Waqainabete says the financial cost of the four major non-communicable diseases to the Fijian economy was in the range of $248.6 million to $406.4 million in 2015.
The four major non-communicable diseases in Fiji are heart diseases such as heart attacks and stroke, cancers, respiratory disease and diabetes.
While speaking at the NCDs Stakeholders meeting at Holiday Inn today, Doctor Waqainabete says this is equivalent to between 2.4% to 4.4% of the 2015 Gross Domestic Product.
He says an estimated $73.3 million was the health costs for the four NCD categories.
Doctor Waqainabete adds persons with cardiovascular diseases pose the greatest financial burden to health services accounting for 28.4%, followed by chronic respiratory disease which is 23.8% while diabetes accounts for 16.1%.
The Minister says stringent interventions are needed to address issues around physical activity, diet, smoking and alcohol abuse.
He further adds while Fiji has tripled its burden on NCDs, it still remains the leading cause of mortality and morbidity over the decades.
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