Ministries of health and education in the Pacific have been urged to collaborate to combat the increasing threat of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
Photo: 123rf
The call was made last week in Fiji at a World Health Organisation workshop on Strengthening Health Promoting Schools.
The country director of the Korean International Co-operation Agency, Jihi Kim, said most deaths in the Pacific were caused by NCDs.
She said Pacific Islanders figured prominently in alarming health trends including obesity, hypertension, high blood glucose and increased alcohol consumption.
"NCDs is a very serious problem in Fiji and other Pacific countries," Jihi Kim said.
"In some countries, the ministry of education is doing something but the ministry of health is not aware of this," she said.
"So we want to share the common knowledge between the ministries. That's very important."