The Pacific Community and the United Nations Development Programme are launching a graphic design contest for Pacific youth to raise awareness on non-communicable diseases, or NCDs.
Lava-lava fabric on display at Fugalei market in the Samoan capital, Apia Photo: RNZI/Sally Round
Through the Wake Up! Project, young people between 18 and 30 are eligible to enter.
Winners will receive training in street art and work with professional graffiti artists to produce their own murals.
The Pacific Community says NCDs are the leading cause of preventable death and disability in the region and a crisis of epidemic proportion.
Photo: RNZ/Daniela Maoate-Cox
It says tobacco, harmful use of alcohol and poor diet combined with a lack of exercise are the leading risk factors for NCDs.
Typically observed in adults, NCDs are now being increasingly diagnosed in young people.