The Pacific Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Alliance board members met this week to strengthen their regional strategy to tackle NCDs across the Pacific, focusing on collaboration, advocacy and practi-cal outcomes.
The 12 board members gathered for a three-day workshop to align their work with the Pacific NCD Roadmap and global health commitments.
Pacific NCD Alliance chairperson Kimberly Kapigeno said the meeting focused on developing a clear re-gional strategy to address challenges that small island nations face in tackling NCDs.
“We really discussed strategy, what Pacific NCD Alliance can offer in tackling the NCD agenda, which for small island states is difficult to tackle alone,” Ms Kapigeno said.
WHO representative, Tomo Kanda said the Alliance identified four key priorities; alcohol and tobacco control, diet-related issues, strengthening health systems and services.
She said their focus would be on advocacy, multi-sector engagement, capacity building, and resource mobilisation, with tangible results expected within six months.
Ms Kanda said the session with Fiji civil society organisations allowed members to share challeng-es and explore how the alliance could support their national NCD efforts.
The engagement marked a step toward stronger, region-wide cooperation.
