HIS EXCELLENCY RATU EPELI NAILATIKAU
CF, KStJ, LVO, OBE (Mil), CSM, MSD
President of the Republic of Fiji
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ADDRESS AT THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON TOBACCO CONTROL
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Radisson Resort and Spa Monday, 28th April, 2014
Denarau 9.00a.m.
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• The Minister for Health, Dr. Neil Sharma
• The Head of the Convention Secretariat for the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Dr Haik Nikogosian
• The World Health Organization Representative in the South Pacific, Dr. Liu Yunguo
• Distinguished Guests
• Members of the Media
• Ladies and Gentlemen

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

I am both pleased and honoured to welcome you all as the participants and facilitators to this first Western Pacific Regional Meeting of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

I also extend a special welcome on behalf of the Fijian government and the people of Fiji to all the participants who have come from abroad. I hope that apart from this three-day convention, you will be able to find the time to smell the roses and to enjoy Fiji’s hospitality and tourism industry.
 
I am indeed honoured and delighted to be part of this important and timely convention largely because the convention is not only about reviewing global strategies on controlling the impact on tobacco consumption on our society, but also because the ultimate aim of the convention is to identify improved ways to save lives from the impact of tobacco.

This act of saving lives is something I hold very dear given my role as Fiji’s special representative on HIV and Aids where the main focus is to save the lives of our people – young lives at that - from HIV and Aids which up to this day still does not have any cure.

As fellow pacific islanders, we find great joy in knowing that we live in a virtually pristine environment with an abundance of natural resources and clean fresh air. Many people even perceive our region as a paradise!

Over the past decades, however, we have witnessed tobacco’s devastating effects on the health of the people in our pacific society. Our health experts advise that tobacco use is a behavioural risk factor for Non-Communicable diseases, or NCDs, and it is now rated as the leading cause of preventable deaths in the region.

Statistics reveal that as much as 71.5 percent of the adult male population and as much as 50.8 percent of adult females are daily smokers in some of our Pacific Islands countries.

Here in Fiji, according to the data available for 2011, 27.1 percent of male adults and 6.0 percent of female adults smoke daily. It appears from the record that our people are dying at a young age from NCD-related illnesses.

It is on record that an estimated 45.6 percent of male adults and 38 percent of female adults are dying before the age of 60.

Our children in the Pacific are increasingly exposed to second-hand smoke. As much as 69.2% of students aged 13-15 years, in one of the pacific islands countries, report, that people smoke in their presence on one or more days in any given week.

According to the 2010 global school-based health survey, as much as 11.7 percent of students between 13-15 years smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days.

I am advised that tobacco costs more in medical care and treatment, in significant losses to the quality of life, and in contributing to a shorter life span than any benefit derived through employment or through revenue collection.

So i ask why grow it? And i further say: it is time to replace it with an alternative crop.

I am also advised that no consumer product harms or kills as many people as tobacco does. It is reported that tobacco contributed to the deaths of a massive 100 million people in the 20th century.

Unless the world acts quickly and vigorously, it is estimated that tobacco could kill up to 1 billion people in the 21st century! The sad reality is that all of these deaths are preventable.

The ultimate aim of this convention therefore is to do what we do best in the Pacific - unite and work together as a Pacific community and a family, to protect and promote the health of our people.

We are here meeting for the first time as the Western Pacific Region to discuss and share ideas with our counterparts, non-governmental organisations and development partners about how we can further progress the implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), to which all of our countries are a party.

As you are aware, second-hand tobacco smoke kills more than 600,000 people globally each year and expanding smoke-free public places is a way identified by FCTC to protect people from the dangers of tobacco smoke.

This is why Fiji has declared additional no-smoking zones in the central business district of Suva city, which will be a smoke-free Suva city in the very near future.
And today, we will also declare additional smoke-free zones in Nadi town. Nadi town will soon join Davao City in the Philippines and Nuotaea Islet in Kiribati among other Western Pacific locations in becoming smoke-free.

I am most pleased to see how the Fijian government, through the Ministry of Health, has further strengthened compliance with FCTC through the Tobacco Control Decree 2010 and the respective regulations in 2012, as well as in strengthening its Tobacco Control Enforcement.

For the Pacific, the issue of enforcement will be of utmost importance once FCTC-compliant legislation is enacted.

You will all agree that there is simply no reason why our people in the Pacific should suffer needlessly from tobacco. This is why I challenge us all to scale-up Tobacco Control and Enforcement; and to persevere in our goal to achieve a Tobacco-Free Pacific by 2025. The Pacific Health Ministers firmly declared that in 2013.

We should support the vision that healthy islands are tobacco-free islands!

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is my utmost pleasure to once again welcome you all to this convention and I look forward to learning more of the outcome of your deliberations.

Thank you, vinaka vakalevu, sukria, bahoot dhanyavaad.

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