There are thousands of large and small islands in the Pacific Ocean, and Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia are made up of these islands. Behind the scenes of white beaches and people's leisurely life everywhere, these Pacific islands are facing serious health problems, and the culprit is imported food.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in at least 10 Pacific island countries, more than 50% (even as high as 90% in some places) of the population is overweight. What's more, the prevalence of obesity is generally high, slightly lower in Fiji, above 30%, while in American Samoa, which belongs to American territory, the prevalence of obesity among women is as high as 80%, which is surprisingly high.
UNICEF/Gio Pirozzi In Port Vila, Vanuatu, teenagers receive education on good eating habits in a youth activity center.
Who defines overweight as body mass index (BMI) equal to or greater than 25, and obesity as body mass index equal to or greater than 30. The prevalence of adult diabetes in the Pacific region ranks first in the world; 47% in American Samoa, 65,438+03% in the United States and 65,438+04% in other parts of the region.
Micronutrient deficiency is also common in this area. In the 16 countries surveyed, more than one fifth of children and pregnant women suffer from anemia. Iodine deficiency disorders and goiter are endemic in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, although Fiji and Papua New Guinea have recently made great progress in disease control through salt iodization. In other parts of the Pacific, the situation of many countries and regions remains to be evaluated. Vitamin A deficiency is also a major public health risk in Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of) and Papua New Guinea.
There are 9.7 million people in the Pacific Islands, and about 40% of them have been diagnosed with non-communicable diseases, especially cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and hypertension. According to the Pacific conference on obesity prevention and control strategies held in Samoa in September 2000, these diseases account for three quarters of all deaths in Pacific islands, and their treatment costs account for 40-60% of the total health care expenditure.
Dr Temo K Waqanivalu, representative of the south Pacific office of who in Suva, Fiji and technical officer in charge of nutrition and sports activities, attributed some health problems in this area to poor eating habits. He said, "Traditional food is no longer popular. They can't compete with dazzling and delicious imported food. "
Pacific islanders may know what a healthy diet is, but like many parts of the world, * * * still needs to work hard to change people's behavior. In eight countries, less than 20% of respondents reported that they eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day as recommended. Often those imported foods with high calories and poor nutrition are more attractive.
For Pacific island countries, a major challenge is to strengthen nutrition education in schools and promote healthy eating habits. "When we were children, we knew what to eat and what not to eat; Nutrition education in Fiji has reached a high standard, "said Ateca Kama, a senior nutritionist at Fiji National Food and Nutrition Center. "The challenge we face is how to turn knowledge into action. For example, the school teaches students good nutrition as a knowledge, but for the sake of profit, they sell junk food in the school cafeteria. "
Children at UNICEF/Gio Pirozzi Primary School in Lunga Village, Solomon Islands.
At the Pacific Food Summit held in Vanuatu in April, participants agreed that countries in the region need to enact new laws to further regulate the food industry. Dr colin bell, technical officer in charge of NCDs in WHO's Western Pacific Regional Office, said: "The food industry is very irregular, which means there is no level playing field. For example, food labels are varied, just like the number of food importing countries is dizzying. "
In the past, food was imported from Australia and New Zealand, but now it comes from further afield: China, Malaysia and the Philippines. Nutrition labels are not only inconsistent in standards, but also often do not use English, the common language of most Pacific island countries. Dr. Bell said that it is very important to stipulate the use of clear and consistent labels. "The simpler the nutrition label, the better. Simplicity is helpful and should be encouraged. Component labeling is also extremely important for food safety and quality control. "
Waqanivalu said that it is also important to eat more locally grown traditional foods with nutritional value and low energy density in the diet of Pacific islanders. "We should also strengthen public opinion supervision over our own agricultural and fishery sectors and strive to strike a balance between local supply and commercialization. In the Federated States of Micronesia and other countries, a "localization" campaign has also been launched to promote local food. "
At the summit in April this year, countries emphasized the needs of infants and the improvement that breastfeeding may bring to infant nutrition. Dr. Tommaso CavalliSforza, regional nutrition consultant of the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, said that breastfeeding is more common in Pacific island countries than many other countries in the WHO Western Pacific region. One of the factors is that milk powder manufacturers choose not to enter the Pacific island market. "People are not interested in promoting infant formula, because the population there is much smaller than that in Asian countries, and the advertising cost of the industry is much less, such as in the Philippines," he said. However, in some countries, such as Samoa, there are still many baby milk powder sold in local stores.
However, according to a study by Seini Kurusiga, a nutrition expert in the Pacific Office of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Suva, Fiji, the development trend is that the initial high breastfeeding rate shows a downward trend when the baby is six months old, with a drop of more than 50% and a continuous decline. "It is necessary to strengthen support for breastfeeding, arouse people's attention again and make breastfeeding a trend." She said. "If the issue of maternal and child nutrition is put on the regional agenda, the support work is likely to receive due attention in the region."
To solve such a common health problem in this region, it is necessary to adjust food import and agricultural policies. The best way is to cooperate between different departments or even the whole region. Waqanivalu said that establishing the importance of cooperation is one of the important achievements of this summit.
UNICEF/Gio Pirozzi In Port Vila, Vanuatu, a girl is preparing to cook some vegetables.
"The outcome of the Summit is a multisectoral approach. In the past, we worked hard to do a good job in health and development. Today, if we want to achieve something, we need to work together. "
However, Bell said that any regional cooperation efforts must be flexible, for example, considering the vulnerability of Pacific islands to the impact of climate change on food supply. He said: "It is necessary to collect data on food security and encourage information for decision-making in response to climate change and other threats."
Due to the high cost of the national food consumption survey, the scope of collecting information on the causes of vitamin and mineral deficiency is limited. In order to overcome this limitation, countries are working with WHO and partner agencies to pool data and resources from different sectors to improve data collection, analysis and use planning. This month, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, in cooperation with the World Bank, organized a seminar for national statistical officials to improve data collection and use.
Life expectancy data illustrate the urgency of taking action. The average age of patients with diabetes and cardiovascular diseases is getting lower and lower. Waqanivalu said that in Fiji, only 65,438+06% of the population is over 55 years old due to premature deaths mainly caused by non-communicable diseases.
He said: "Following the recent resolutions adopted by the Pacific Food Summit and the General Assembly on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, these diseases have finally received due attention at the regional and global levels." 20 1 1 In September, the United Nations General Assembly will hold its first summit to deal with the threat of non-communicable diseases, especially in low-and middle-income countries.
At the Pacific Food Summit, participating countries and regions unanimously adopted a framework for food security action. Information about the framework can be found on the foodsecurepacific website.