HIS EXCELLENCY RATU EPELI NAILATIKAU
CF, KStJ, LVO, OBE (Mil), CSM, MSD
President of the Republic of Fiji

ADDRESS AT THE NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASE
AND THE LAW WORKSHOP

Holiday Inn Wednesday, 2nd October, 2014
SUVA
8.30a.m.


• Minister for Health, Dr Neil Sharma
• Dr Liu Guo, WHO Representative for the South Pacific
• Mr Ferdinand Strobel, UNDP Representative
• Dr James Fong, President of the Fiji Medical Association,

Good morning, ni sa bula vinaka, salaam alaykum, namaste.

I am indeed pleased to be invited to speak at this important forum. At first I was somewhat surprised when I heard the title “Law and NCD” and wondered whether this was something new.

Then my memory went back to April when I was invited to speak at the Western Pacific implementation workshop for the framework convention on tobacco control co-hosted by the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization.

It again became clear that one of the best ways to prevent and control NCD is to put into place legislative or policy framework that would not only best serve our development purposes but also safeguard or protect our health and that of our children.

I definitely agree that legislation is one of the best ways to address public health issues and HIV & AIDS and Tobacco Control has shown us the example. A lot of progress has been made since the enactment of the HIV & AIDS and the Tobacco Control Decrees in Fiji.

The access to treatment and confidentiality for people living with HIV has been progressed well. I am told that the rate of smoking in Fiji is now decreasing as a result of the enforcement of Tobacco Decree and the increase of the Tobacco Tax.

I believe these fiscal and legislative measures are effective in ensuring behavior change at individual level but also changes at organizational level. I would challenge you to take heed of what we have learned from HIV/Aids and Tobacco Control and transfer these to NCD actions as well.

Let us put into place policies and legislative measures that will amply protect the greatest resource that we have. That is our people and their health. Without a healthy and a productive population, our economic vision and our aspirations cannot be realized.

I would like to speak particularly about children, our future. The environment we create for them today determines in a great way their lifestyle and health in the future.

Although NCD is a lifestyle disease and left to the individual to make their own choices, the children do not have such privileges and are quite vulnerable and need to be protected. This is where the law and policy comes into effect at population level to support action at individual and family level. We should not be bringing up our children in an environment that exposes them to the risk factors of tobacco and drug use, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity. These so called o-be-so-genic environment lends people, especially children, to indulge in behaviours that put them at risk of having NCDS.

Whilst it is desirable to promote healthy lifestyle for individuals to adopt we must make sure we are protecting those members of our vulnerable populations who cannot, and are not able to make well informed decisions and choices. Much of their behavior is determined by the environment in which they live.

For them, health promotion is not sufficient to do and we must put in place health protection measures.

We already have smoke free cities and schools but I strongly recommend we have smoke free homes legislated for as well. How can we blame a child who smokes later on in life when he or she has been brought up in a home environment that has dad or mum or uncle or aunt or other relatives smoking without any concern whatsoever for those around them.

Also for this reason we must not only protect children from all harms of life like tobacco and unhealthy foods but also from the power of marketing that can have a lasting impact on the immature mind.

The power of marketing of unhealthy products on our children is immense and if we are not careful and caring, we may lose generations to unhealthy lifestyle and NCD if we have not started doing so already.

I believe there is a bill being prepared to restrict or ban the marketing of junk foods to children and I would encourage you that this be pursued with much vigor by all concerned. This is a worthy cause. Let us free our children from the temptations that will lead them to these unhealthy behaviors.

Most of our religious teachings say that we should “teach the child in the way they should go and when they grow up they shall never part from it.” Let us teach them the right way from the beginning: no tobacco or drugs, eat healthy, and be physically active and provide the right environment for that learning to be enhanced at home, in schools, in villages and in cities through legislations.

As you are all aware, the leaders of the Pacific including Fiji have declared NCD a health and economic crisis, and have committed to battle it accordingly as the Pacific holds some of the highest rates of tobacco use, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease and early deaths from it. This is contributing to poverty and to much social and human misery and proving very costly to family life.
NCD is the leading cause of deaths in Fiji.

Most of these deaths are occurring before the age of 60yrs - something we call premature deaths as they are occurring in what is generally considered a productive portion of the population. NCD is a national economic development problem as much as it is a health one. It is serious. So let us get serious about it.

And use legislation to its full potential to aid in the fight against NCD not only for this generation but also for the generation to come.

I call on all government sectors as well as the whole of society to scale up action on NCD. I am glad that one of the renowned professional groups is leading this charge – none other than the Fiji Medical Association. And I am further informed that they are working closely with lawyers from the Fiji Law Society. Also we have other civil society groups like the Diabetes Fiji, the Consumer Council, the faith based organizations as well as the regional and international partners like who and UNDP assisting the Ministry of Health in this endeavour.

I see a great gleam of hope with these three parties - government, development partners and civil society groups - coming together at the table to discuss these measures and I am very optimistic that what the government has targeted for NCD will be achieved in the not too distant future.

Let us create a healthy (NCD free) Fiji – it can be done and legislation has a huge role to play in its achievement.

Thank you, vinaka vakalevu, sukria, bahoot dhanyavaad.