The revelation that a Nadi-based private medical clinician has called on health professionals and institutions alike to become more politically astute to bring about change and end the healthcare nightmare of non-communicable diseases is interesting.
We read that Dr Kris Naidu made the call in the wake of recent statements by the Health Ministry that NCDs remained the number one killer in Fiji.
This “shocking data”, he said, was “undoubtedly a consequence of an ailing healthcare system along with poor lifestyle choices and lack of health consciousness”.
We have one of the highest death rates from diabetes in the world, he pointed out, and our life expectancy world rankings show that.
“I loath to say that we as doctors are failing our patients and subsequently failing the health of the nation.”
Fiji, he said, needed comprehensive action plans that combined taxation, restriction of marketing of sugary products to children and education to reduce over-consumption of sugars and halt the epidemic of diabetes. The Government and Ministry of Health, he said, had taken actions to improve availability and access to healthy foods and comprehensive programs aimed at reducing consumption of sugars but to no avail.
“Just as taxing tobacco helps to reduce tobacco use, taxing sugary drinks may help reduce consumption of sugars,” he was quoted saying.
“The Government must ‘legislate’ on unhealthy marketing to protect Fijians from harmful impacts of the widespread and insidious marketing of nutritionally poor food.
“As a medical practitioner, I am deeply concerned by the heavy marketing of unhealthy food at the root of unhealthy eating habits and lifestyles.”
Processed foods are often high in calories, added sugars, trans-fats and sodium and they are heavily marketed products, such as soft drinks, instant noodles and biscuits. Clearly there is an issue right before our faces. This isn’t something we can simply shrug aside and pretend it will just go away.
For many Fijians, it is now a fact of life. They survive on food that are not good for a healthy lifestyle, for various reasons.
However, for whatever reason they have, there is a need for us to create awareness about the impact of diets on our health. We now live with the ‘throw-away’ mentality where things are made easier for us.
We have fast food, and processed food readily available. Changes in our lifestyles have meant many Fijians aren’t taking time out for exercises for instance.
We have developed poor eating and drinking habits. Many of us are staying up late at night, cutting back on sleep time. The challenge goes straight back to the individual.
We must make changes that will positively impact our lives.
We must be willing to make a difference!
