Over 12,400 deaths have been recorded because of lifestyle diseases in Fiji over the last 2 years and the Ministry of Health is calling on Fijians to make a commitment to clean up their diet.
More than 6,600 people died of NCDs in 2020 while 5,800 people passed away last year.
Some common NCDs include heart disease, diabetes, cerebrovascular diseases, hypertension cancers, chronic lower respiratory disease, kidney disease and mental health illnesses.
Permanent Secretary for Health Doctor James Fong says NCDs were the contributing factor to many deaths caused by COVID-19.
Dr Fong says in a population of less than one million people, these numbers are staggering and this situation is not normal and we are heading towards a breaking point.
He says majority of these diseases are often caused by the over-consumption of foods that are high in cholesterol, fat, sugar and salt and by a lack of physical exercise.
Dr Fong says smoking and high alcohol intake also aggravate these diseases and we now see young people in their 20s and 30s dying from heart attacks, strokes, experiencing kidney failure and undergoing diabetic amputations.
He adds NCDs are costly for the country as sick people need medicines, hospital visits and major surgeries like amputations.
The Permanent Secretary adds all of this places a serious burden on society and they are talking of hundreds of millions of dollars on top of much suffering every year.
He says NCDs can also create a vicious cycle within multiple generations of the same household, because dietary and lifestyle habits are learned behaviour.
Dr Fong says the most straightforward way to control these diseases is to focus on reducing the risk factors associated with them such as fatty, oily and fried foods, eating large amounts of butter and ghee, red meat, fast food, foods high in salt, sugary drinks and foods, high-carbohydrate and starchy foods, alcohol and smoking.
Meanwhile, Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says from an economic point of view they are always concerned when we have productive members of the society falling ill because of diabetes or high blood pressure.
Sayed-Khaiyum says a lot of people in the country have a cardiovascular event so as a result of that they have the private public partnership with Aspen Medical.
The Minister further says one critical change now is that ordinary Fijians are now able to get access to private practitioners which means they are able to see doctors regularly.
He says as announced in the Revised National Budget, the expenditure for people to do urine, blood, sugar, cholesterol and liver and kidney function test which will help people monitor their health will be handled by the government.
He says the government has also created a very good environment in terms of sports where they have a Sports Commission, funded a lot of events and sports equipment are also zero rated.
He adds they need to provide an environment that is not only preventing but is curing too but they rather focus on prevention.
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