Minister for Health and Medical Services Dr Atonio Lalabalavu said a survey spanning 12 months at 107 workplaces revealed heart attack as the number one killer disease, coupled with the risk of obesity and high blood pressure.
Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Dr Atonio said 3456 participants were assessed in the study conducted by the ministry and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
“The national policy on healthy catering and food and beverage in all government ministries and institutions, an SOPs and guidelines were launched in on Wednesday February 14, 2024 by the honorable Prime Minister,” the minister said.
“Cabinet has also endorsed the adoption and implementation of these national policy government ministries and institutions, and the new policy supersedes its predecessor, the healthy catering guideline, which was endorsed in Cabinet of 2017.”
He said the survey results revealed 50 per cent of participating workers were obese, 32 per cent had high blood pressure with five per cent in the severe hypertension category.
“This policy is taking a bold step in tackling NCDs in Fiji and mainly the ultimate goal of the policies is to reduce the number of people in Fiji developing NCDs (non-communicable diseases) and succumbing to the complications of diabetes, heart disease which are the most common causes of sickness and death in Fiji.
“In addition, 60 per cent of workers in the age group 20 to 25 years had high risk of developing NCD, while 31 per cent at a higher risk of suffering from heart disease in the future.
“So these findings are consistent with our national disease burden with as well as reports from the 2021 food system and nutrition survey with multi indicator cluster survey of 2021.”
