Assistant Women’s Minister Sashi Kiran has called on women to be mindful of what they cook for their families at home because it could be an effective way of combating NCDs.
She said this was particularly true of iTaukei families because they make up the largest portion of the population battling NCDs.
Ms Kiran told the Pentecostal Church’s Central Ladies Ministry’s annual handicraft show in Raiwaqa yesterday that children were being deprived of good nourishment by being fed unhealthy food choices at home.
“You may be aware that 80 per cent of children in Fiji under five years are anaemic,” Ms Kiran said.
“They don’t have any blood in the body, and the blood does not take oxygen to the brain when the brain is at a formation stage.”
Ms Kiran said 30 years ago, there wasn’t such a problem because “our forefathers were feeding us rourou and bele and we didn’t have a problem of diabetes like we have today”.
“Today, three people lose a leg a day, every day, and the iTaukei make up a large number of them.
“These are things that can be prevented by the supply in the house, what we cook and what we feed our families, and that is a choice each mother makes, or each family makes when they cook for their family.”
Ms Kiran said people must stop trying to compete with each other during family gatherings and make a firm decision to start eating healthy in their own households.
“When we have gatherings, what sort of food do we put on the table? I know we love our cakes and pies, and we love our noodles, but is that what is going to nourish the body? It doesn’t. It’s a conscious decision we must make.”
Ms Kiran said people don’t need to compete with each who brings the best pies or cakes to a gathering but whose child is the healthiest.
“Our children have the right to have the same healthy sustenance as our forefathers, we should not deprive them of that.”
