WHO to revitalize Healthy Islands initiatives in the Pacific

Press Release – February 3, 2011

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pacific island countries are developing measures to revitalize the vision of creating "healthy islands" that has been the unifying theme for better health in the Pacific for more than a decade.

WHO will convene a steering group meeting in Nadi, Fiji, from 3 to 5 February 2011 to further efforts to develop these measures. The meeting will include experts from Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The members of the steering group will focus on combating the growing epidemic of lifestyle and noncommunicable diseases.

"The Pacific is one of the most beautiful places on earth," said Dr Shin Young-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. "Yet the threat of lifestyle diseases is so great that the future for Pacific islanders and the health of their children are endangered. We must take action now."

Dr Shin encouraged all government ministries and partner organizations to work together to provide a healthy environment and to encourage people to make the proper choices that will lead to better health.

"This steering group is an important step towards achieving our shared vision of healthy islands in the Pacific,” Dr Shin said.

The meeting will finalize the Framework of Action on Revitalizing Healthy Islands and consider for endorsement a noncommunicable disease outcome paper that identifies priority areas for scaling up noncommunicable disease prevention and control in the Pacific as a prelude to the September 2011 High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Noncommunicable Diseases.

ENDS

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