IN our attempt to treat the sick, we’re forgetting about keeping our people well, says the Health Ministry’s head of wellness Dr Devina Nand.
She told the JP Bayly Trust NCD screening launch in Suva that investment in public health programs was necessary to tackle NCDs.
Dr Nand said many countries, including Fiji, have had higher curative budgets.
“We’re putting in interventions more upstream,” she said. “We’re trying to treat the sick, but we’re forgetting about interventions, about keeping our people well.
“Those who are well, how do you stop them from getting NCDs, for example?”
She said direct investment in public health must involve screening, health promotion and community-based models.
“We need to get our communities health-literate so the leaders in the community, youths, women’s groups, men’s groups, faith-based organisations, civil society organisations, anyone who’s a community mover and shaker, we need to have them health-literate in the communities as ambassadors for change. And that’s a movement that needs to happen. That’s primordial.”
With the issue of primary health care, Dr Nand said there was a need for improvements with human resources and adequately skilled people in the right places.
“We need medications and supplies to reach our people. We don’t want to flood our hospitals.
“At the moment, we’re flooding our hospitals with diseases because we’re not able to put in these interventions downstream, or upstream.
“And we need to put these interventions earlier so we’re not flooding our hospitals.”