Walk the talk, ‘no one should be left behind’ in accessing to quality food, says Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) leader Viliame Gavoka.
In a statement dated Saturday, October 17, on World Food Day, Mr Gavoka called on the government to intervene in the health of the nation, which the Ministry of Health reported 80 per cent of the deaths in Fiji are caused by non-communicable diseases.
He said Fiji had a rate of childhood stunting (low height for age) of eight per cent, childhood wasting (low weight for height) of six per cent, 37 to 50 per cent rates of anemia in children under five, and between 33 and 42 per cent in women aged 12 to 44, which were all caused by malnutrition.
He also said there was a rate of vitamin A deficiency in children under five-years of 14 per cent, while the repute of zinc deficiency is 14.5 per cent in children aged 6 months to 2 years.
He said the domestic health surveys mirror the economic capacity of the provider to provide quality food to their families.
“We all know that it’s much worse, and it will get worse, as all they can afford are the poor-quality processed food, which are cheaper in price, but very poor in quality.
“Healthy food is in abundance; collected and provided under food banks should help those in need to live healthy lives through healthy eating.
“Additionally, we need to provide efficient testing protocols as we did for COVID-19 for early detection and mitigation of the non-communicable diseases.”
Requests for a response to Mr Gavoka’s statement were sent to Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and Minister for Health and Medical Service Ifereimi Waqainabete.
