WHEN speaking at a high-level round table meeting on a NCD policy road map this week in Honiara, Prime Minister Rick Hou said there was no doubt NCDs pose the single biggest threat to the future development aspirations of the people and the country.

The PM told his audience, seventy percent of all deaths in the country are due to Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

He added that the deaths are due to heart diseases, diabetes, stroke, chronic respiratory disease and cancer.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also reported that Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a crisis in the Pacific and the leading causes of death in the region.

The WHO has supported Pacific islands to develop “crisis response packages” (CRPs) which are action plans aligned with national NCD strategies and guided by local data and the very cost effective interventions or “best-buy” interventions recommended by WHO.

Most countries are prioritizing the following strategies in their CRPs:

Tobacco control, salt reduction, and implementing the Package of Essential NCD interventions to improve and expand NCD prevention and control in primary health care facilities.

To add further impetus to the growing incidences of NCD related illnesses and the problem facing already over-burdened health authorities in several Pacific Islands states, it was reported by Radio New Zealand, today, Wednesday, 28 November 2018, that American Samoa’s only hospital needs more beds for patients as its pediatric, medical and surgical wards are at full capacity.

The hospital is having to bring in beds from the maternity ward because the hospital is full with patients that have illnesses such as pneumonia, heart disease and high blood pressure.

Yours sincerely

Frank Short

THE Island Sun newspaper has reported that a National Water and Climate Change Forum is underway in Honiara with a view to focusing on the resilience of water for domestic use in the face of climate change.

The Forum occurs in the light that the United Nations (UN) has forecast that by 2050, globally; one in four people will be affected by recurrent water shortages

During the Forum multiple organizations (government and non-government) will showcase their experiences, best practices, challenges and lessons learnt.

The National Government will conclude the Forum by discussing the next steps for accelerating scaling up of adaptation in the water sector and set out a road map for any associated policy and/or sect oral coordination actions.

(Source : Island Sun newspaper)

Meanwhile, quoting news reported from CNN, a new US government report has delivered a dire warning about climate change and its devastating impacts, saying the US economy could lose hundreds of billions of dollars — or, in the worst-case scenario, more than 10 percent of its GDP — by the end of the century.

“The federally mandated study was supposed to come out in December but was released by the Trump administration on Friday.

“David Easterling, the director of the Technical Support Unit at the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, emphasized that there was “no external interference in the report’s development.” He added that the climate change the Earth is experiencing is unlike any other.

“The global average temperature is much higher and is rising more rapidly than anything modern civilization has experienced, and this warming trend can only be explained by human activities,” Easterling said.

“Coming from the US Global Change Research Program, a team of 13 federal agencies, the Fourth National Climate Assessment was put together with the help of 1,000 people, including 300 leading scientists, roughly half from outside the government.

“It’s the second of two volumes. The first, released in November 2017, concluded that there is “no convincing alternative explanation” for the changing climate other than “human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases.”

“The report’s findings run counter to President Donald Trump’s consistent message that climate change is a hoax.”

Yours sincerely

Frank Short

IN a week when several prominent figures in the Solomon Islands, including some in Parliament and the TSI have had a critical lens on reported government spending and payments to retiring Members of Parliament MPs), it was a refreshing change to learn of the success being achieved locally by READ SI.

To add to what the largely volunteer NGO has achieved since its inception in 2015, I will quote from the Solomon Star newspaper article published today, 29 November 2018.

“Resources Educational Advance Development in Solomon Islands (READ SI) is a local non-government organisation (NGO) working together with other partners to get more reading materials into primary schools and communities in Solomon Islands.

“The NGO was established in 2015 purposely to provide a second chance learning mainly for adults and youths who have missed out from education.

“One of its officers Martha Maeli said what they normally do is to educate them using several resources they have to help them know how to read and write.

“For youths, it’s like we give them a second chance to move on in their future,” she said.

“Mrs Maeli said since 2017 until now they have reached 274 villages across the nice provinces with a total of 541 teachers and 2,825 students.

“She said so far 13 informational books have been written by the READ SI with 5,000 of them have been printed and 6,100 reading books.”

“Another officer Revenah Ilala said their role is to bring with those resources down to the communities and educate people who want to learn more about reading to help their standard of living and development.

“Ms Ravenah said when they reached down to the communities, they have learnt that students attending the primary schools even lacks proper reading and they have also joined and learn a lot from our lessons.

“This literacy program also helps those attending the primary to catch up on their level of education especially to be able to read and write,” she said.

“In their 2018 quarterly report headed by Director Joyce Boykin READ SI is currently working together with the Ministry of Education to get more reading materials into primary schools with a goal to reach 300 schools and villages with books to improve reading.

“The National Literacy Campaign started last year and has now been to more than 270 villages and 5 settlements since April 2017.

“The program also included at the Rove Prison Service where inmates teaching reading to other inmates in six cell clocks.

“Mrs Maeli said READ SI is currently sponsored five literacy classes in Honiara in areas like Borderline, April Valley, Gilbert Camp, Lau Ridge and Tasahe B.

“She said they work is just on voluntary bases which comes with great challenge especially when leaving the family behind for 3 weeks.

“However she said it their passion to change the lives of people to be able to know where they want to be and especially to change someones life.”

Copyright @ 2018, Solomon Star news.

I express my gratitude to READ SI for the sterling work already done and for the ongoing progress in aiding children and others to read (and advancing literacy) throughout the Solomon Islands.

I also would like to thank the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) for the initial direct aid to READ SI enabling the NGO to get off the ground.

Yours sincerely

Frank Short

Letters to the Editor

THANK you for allowing me an opportunity to respond to the article appearing in the Island Sun Newspaper of Thursday 29th November.

The article referred to a statement from the Deputy Prime Minister, RH Mr. Sogavare, which stated in the headline, local nutrition should be the staple food, NOT rice for Solomon Islanders. I do not think many would disagree with this. Most probably however on the basis that rice importation is a cost to the country and substituting it with locally grown alternatives would reduce this cost. That makes sense. Blaming rice for NCD’s as an excuse to introduce a tax does not.

The Deputy Prime Minister, as Minister of Finance is about to tax rice imports. The intention is to raise revenue, and again, this is the privilege of the government. The red herring here is that the argument is the impending tax will be introduced for health reasons. This explains why we are seeing so many attacks on rice lately in the media. If you throw enough mud, some will eventually stick. An old political tactic being used here once again. My issue here is not about the tax. It is about misleading media about rice and health.

Deputy Prime Minister, why rice? There is tobacco, a much greater threat, there is sugar, another much greater threat, how about using alcohol in your headline, noodles perhaps, Coca-Cola and other soft drinks maybe? Need I go on about consumables with a much greater contribution to NCD’s than rice? NCD’s include cancers, heart failure, strokes amongst other things, it is unfair to formulate communications such as that in the Island Sun, where it would be possible for the uninformed to interpret all NCD’s are a result of eating rice. This is clearly far from the truth.

Rice is an easy target due to its profile. But rice is a naturally occurring carbohydrate, the same as locally grown products such as sweet potato. Carbohydrates are essential in any diet as they contribute to energy and the effective functioning of the body, including the brain. Carbohydrates, including rice, form part of a healthy, balanced diet.

There is an issue with ALL carbohydrates however, and that can be over consumption. When this occurs the body can store excess to be used for energy later, which will take the form of fat. If the amount of energy (calories) taken in is more than that exerted, the fat will continue to build. This may lead to obesity and obesity may result in a NCD, such as Diabetes or heart problems.

Therefore, responsible suppliers of rice will always recommend a balanced diet and that we should all regularly exercise. Remember, energy in versus energy out is the secret. These are the answers to the potential issues created by over consumption of any foods, not just carbohydrates and especially not just rice.

The Deputy Prime Minister is correct in one area, Brown Rice does carry enhanced nutritional value over white rice, due to maintaining the fiber from the bran layer and cereal germ. Again, most responsible suppliers will provide Brown Rice as part of their offering, as SolRice does. The demand for it however remains very small and we would like to see this grow. Where the DPM was wrong again however, is that Brown Rice is not $600 per bag as claimed and is only slightly more expensive than white rice per kilo.

Editor, I hope this letter brings some balance to the increasing misrepresentations that continue to appear in the media. Deputy Prime Minister, increase revenue through additional tax by all means, but please be sincere when explaining why the price of rice will increase for the people of the Solomon Islands in the New Year, the government needs the cash.

Nick Ellis

SolRice