The Secretariat of the Pacific Community hopes a regional photography competition will promote talk about Non-Communicable Diseases among more people.
The Secretariat of the Pacific Community hopes a regional photography competition will promote talk about Non-Communicable Diseases among more people.
Four winners representing Palau, Vanuatu, Guam and the Federated States of Micronesia have been announced in the "Focus on Non-Communicable Diseases in the Pacific" competition.
Photo taken by Annabel Lyman of Palau, showing her grandson choosing healthy food Photo: SPC
The SPC's NCD Officer Solene Bertrand-Protat says the competition received widespread interest, with more than 40 entries across four categories.
Ms Bertrand-Protat said a picture is worth a thousand words and the SPC will use the the winning images in campaigns to raise awareness of diseases that are responsible for more deaths in the region than any other cause.
"It's to find a different way to raise awareness on NCDs in the Pacific region," she said.
"Usually it is always very serious and we say to people, don't smoke, don't eat unhealthy food. It is not very funny, not very sexy to talk about NCDs usually so we try to find another way to speak about that with the people of the reason."
Photo taken by Christopher Surla of Guam illustrating the importance of physical activity Photo: SPC