Did you know that Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) represent one of the most serious challenges to the health and wellbeing of youth in the Pacific region?  

In the ‘Pacific Youth Development Framework 2014 – 2023’, young people identified NCDs as a major development issue affecting their health, wellbeing and their futures. Approximately 75% of all deaths in the Pacific are due to NCDs. Overweight and obese children are likely to stay obese into adulthood and more likely to develop NCDs such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases at a younger age.

Health experts were quick to identify that persons living with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, heart diseases, hypertension, chronic lung diseases and cancers were more vulnerable to becoming severely ill with COVID-19.

According to the WHO global health survey in 2016, 71% of deaths globally were due to NCDs. In the Pacific, NCDs are the leading case of deaths accounting for 75% of mortality. This is worrying as the Pacific represents a region that is vulnerable to the current health crisis.

For the third consecutive year, young people from different Pacific island states and territories have the opportunity to spread prevention and control messages for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) using different media, thanks to the Wake Up! Project, launched in 2017, with financial support from the Pacific Fund (France) and the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and implemented by the Pacific Community (SPC).

As measles cases continue to be reported in the Pacific, the Pacific Community (SPC) continues to closely monitor the situation and produces a weekly map showing measles and other epidemic and emerging diseases circulating in the region. 

As of 13 January 2020, Pacific countries with documented measles virus circulation and alerts on the map are: American Samoa, Fiji, Kiribati, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga and Australia (Queensland).

The map can be accessed online at: www.spc.int/phd/epidemics

Every year since 2017, with the financial support of the French Pacific Fund and the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT),the Pacific Community (SPC) has hosted Pacific youth to take part in the “Wake Up!” project.