We are facing a critical public health challenge!
The Health Ministry’s head of wellness, Dr Devina Nand, announced that more than 80 per cent of the mortality rate in Fiji is because of non-communicable diseases.
She made the revelation at the 2024 Fiji OHS Conference at Pacific Harbour yesterday.
The alarming picture paints a grim picture of the status of our health in Fiji.
Around 84 per cent, she said, die globally because of NCDs.
What will raise a lot of concern as well is the fact that our mortality rate because of NCDs ranges from 75 to more than 80 per cent.
Even more concerning is the fact that 31 per cent were premature mortality.
People were dying before the age of 70.
She said that ranges from about 45 per cent to 50 per cent dying in their prime years.
The economic burden, she points out, is also a concern, with NCDs accounting, globally, for 10.9 per cent of GDP.
On the homefront, the latest stats showed about $591million as part of the burden that NCDs posed to the country.
As a positive factor, Dr Nand spoke about a successful workplace screening program piloted in the Central Division between 2015 and 2020. It targeted employee health and saw positive outcomes.
We learn that participants experienced improvements in lifestyle choices, reductions in NCD risk factors, and even reported better navigation of work-related stress. These improvements led to increased workforce productivity.
It prompted the ministry to expand the initiative.
Any positive outcome should be encouraged we say, and that means rolling this out to other divisions like the ministry intends to do.
It is generally about empowering people and offering them the platforms to access screenings and opportunities to reduce their NCD risk.
It is good to know that the program aims to address stress and workload burden faced by healthcare workers and other professions.
This effort needs a concerted drive to boost awareness, and engagement. It needs participation and people empowered.
On a personal level, there are things we can do, from eating healthier foods, exercising daily to being stress-free. For many people, that’s going to be better said than done considering the cost of living for instance. This is why the powers that be must be engaged!
It makes sense that any effort to reduce the NCD burden is going to benefit people. It is going to save lives and subsequently address some of our shortcomings in terms of productivity, and the economy. The big one though would be better health and wellbeing! Now that’s something worth fighting for.
