Madang, Papua New Guinea, 7 July 2009 — Pacific Island health ministers have appealed to all sectors of the community to support local food production and to demand access to a healthier range of imported foods. This will encourage pride in local food, promote local industry, facilitate trade in healthy food, and help tackle mounting health problems arising from poor nutrition.
The health ministers, gathering at Madang in Papua New Guinea this week in their eighth meeting, considered how best to ensure food security in the Pacific — a region that is increasingly subject to impacts such as climate change, population pressures, and global financial upheavals. The meeting is supported by the Western Pacific Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).
They noted the dangers of increased consumption of imported foods of poor nutritional quality and a neglect of traditional food systems. To combat this, the ministers endorsed WHO and SPC recommendations on the need for a declaration and framework for action to guide Pacific Island countries and territories on how to better address food security now and in the future.
The key messages are to strengthen local food production and consumption and to ensure the nutritional quality and safety of foods traded in the Pacific. They want people to grow more local food and to consume a higher proportion of local food in their diet; industry to show responsibility for consumers’ health by reducing levels of fat, salt and sugar in processed food; and governments to set and enforce clear standards promoting both health and trade.
To promote food security, countries are advised to seek support of all stakeholders from the private and public sectors, implement enabling policy, invest in agriculture, stimulate increased trade in local foods, and support trade in healthy processed food.
WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific, Dr Shin Young-soo, said access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food was central to an active and healthy lifestyle and vital for overcoming the very heavy burdens of obesity, type 2 diabetes and micronutrient deficiencies that many of the people of the Pacific currently face.
"To achieve a healthy Pacific we need all stakeholders and communities to work together. Producers need to increase their production of local food, food businesses need to improve the health value of processed food, governments need to strengthen their food control and consumer education efforts, and consumers need to make better dietary choices. If we all work together we will achieve a healthier and well-developed Pacific," Dr Shin said.
Mr William (Bill) Parr, Director of SPC’s Social Resources Division, said that in times of economic crisis households will often cut back on their household expenditures by purchasing lower quality, less nutritious food.
"Unfortunately this can have a broad based negative impact on the health of family members over time and can lead to obesity, micronutrient deficiency and other disorders," Mr Parr said.
"Reducing our reliance on imported food stuffs and consuming more local products of high nutritional value is not only good for the health of the household but is also good for the economy, he said.