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
