Praneeta Prakash 
A recent Lancet Countdown Report on Health and Climate Change has shed light on the health challenges posed by climate change, particularly for vulnerable Pacific Island nations such as Fiji.
The report paints a troubling picture of rising non-communicable diseases and malnutrition, driven by climate-related factors.
The co-author of the report, Roannie Ng Shiu says Fiji’s reliance on agriculture and fisheries makes it particularly susceptible to the dual threats of extreme weather events and changing dietary patterns.
She says the changing weather patterns have disrupted agricultural production, leading to food shortages and a reliance on imported, often processed, foods.
“Around nutrition, diet and physical activity there’s greater risk around malnutrition but also increased morbidity and mortality due to NCDs and if I think specifically towards Fiji with some of the stats that we have that between 2019 and 2023 there was more exposure to heat stress as a result of outdoor activities but also around poor dietary outcomes where close to 8,000 deaths were attributed to imbalanced diets”
She says this dietary shift has contributed to a surge in NCDs, such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
“The fact that we’ve had lots of droughts and also high temperatures results in lower yields of crops, impacts on our agriculture for example and again because of our marine environment impacts on the availability of good proteins so marine life, seafood, fish, shellfish”
Health Minister Dr Atonio Lalabalavu also emphasized the need for enhanced collaboration to address the challenges of climate change.
