By Mike Puia
SOLOMON Islands stands the chance of benefiting from a centre that has been set up in Nauru to tackle Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) in the pacific.
The centre has started operation and doctors working in the centre are doing outreach programmes from there.
The Prime Minister, Rick Hou, who recently returned from Nauru while attending the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) meeting, said having an agreement with this centre would enable NCDs experts to visit this country.
Prime Minister Hou said his officials will officials from the Ministry of Health and Medical Services to start contact with the centre on the possibility of developing a same centre here to work as a branch for the Nauru centre.
He said this country needs to secure a site and build a clinic for NCDs and this centre linking with the Nauru centre.
Issues relating to NCDs were among issues discussed by Pacific leaders meeting in Nauru.
During the private sector dialogue, leaders talked about disaster resilience and NCDs where Prime Minister Hou made a presentation on NCDs.
In his presentation, Prime Minister Hou urged leaders to take leadership in the fight against NCD.
He said people tend to forget that NCDs are the “biggest killers in the Pacific”.
Prime Minister Hou said there must be political leadership in the fight against NCDs.
He said doing so will led to a healthy population and nation.
Prime Minister Hou said while this would take time, people must serious about prevention.
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