NCD ‘crisis’ consumes 80% of Fiji’s health budget

According to a 2011 World Health Organisation study, lifestyle changes are causing widespread proliferation of non-communicable diseases, or NCDs. As a result, treatment of NCDs is consuming 80% of Fiji’s annual health budget, according to Dr Isimeli Tukana. He characterised the rise in diabetes in particular as a ‘crisis’, leading to approximately 400 amputations a year. The same story notes that HIV infection rates are rising significantly in some villages, with dozens of people infected in some villages.

This article was written by

Dan McGarry

http://www.imagicity.com

Dan McGarry is chief technologist at the Pacific Insititute of Public Policy. He has worked in the Pacific for over a decade now, assisting in numerous capacities in the development of ICTs in Vanuatu and the Pacific. He has extensive experience in technology policy formulation and implementation as well as in traditional and new media. He still writes software.

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