UN health agency sounds alarm on high obesity in Pacific island nations
Pacific Ocean countries face a severe obesity problem, which is also causing increased rates of heart disease and strokes, according to the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO).
The agency defines being overweight as having a body mass index (BMI) of equal to or more than 25. It considers a BMI, calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by the square of height in metres, of 30 or more to mean that the person is obese.
WHO said today that it has found that in at least 10 Pacific island countries, more than half – and sometimes up to 90 per cent – of the populations are overweight.
It also noted that obesity levels range from more than 30 per cent in Fiji to a staggering 80 per cent among women in American Samoa, a United States territory.
Diabetes rates among the region’s adults are among the highest in the world, at 47 per cent in American Samoa compared to 13 per cent in the US mainland.
One fifth of children and pregnant women are anaemic in a vast majority of Pacific island nations, where deficiencies in micronutrients, including Vitamin A and iodine, are a significant problem.
Additionally, 2.4 million people suffer from preventable noncommunicable diseases, such as heart disease, strokes and cancer, which are responsible for 75 per cent of deaths in the Pacific.
Temo K. Waqanivalu, WHO technical officer for nutrition and physical activity in Fiji, said that poor diet is partly to blame for the region’s health problems.
“Promotion of traditional foods has fallen by the wayside,” he said. “They are unable to complete with the glamour and flashiness of imported foods.”
In eight of the region’s countries, less than 20 per cent of people surveyed said that they eat the recommended five or more servings of fruit and vegetables a day.
WHO has also pointed to the Pacific’s heavy dependence on imported food as a growing problem, with consumers often choosing imported food because it is easily and readily available for purchase compared to indigenous fish, chicken and other healthier local produce.
In April, the region’s nations met in Vanuatu to identify ways to tackle the challenges of malnutrition, obesity and diabetes, the first meeting of its kind in the Pacific.
The Pacific is a tropical paradise, said Chen Ken, WHO Representative for the South Pacific, “but we want this to be the reality not just for the tourists who visit us, but also for the people who live here. We want to preserve these islands as healthy islands.”
This, he said, will require action to be taken to ensure that high-quality, healthy and affordable food is available for all.
Source: UN News
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