With this, the Ministry of Health (MOH) is working with the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the State governments to strengthen its fight against childhood obesity. A Healthy Lifestyle curriculum and projects with the state governments are in the works.
“A total of 33.3 percent or 1/3 of children in Palau are either obese of at risk for obesity,” Kuartei sai. “And because of that, the next generation is already predisposed to all of these chronic illnesses or so-called lifestyle diseases.”
What needs to be done, according to Kuartei, is that Palau needs to build resilience. “And resilience starts with working with the environment, the community, so that healthy choices are easier to make or are the only choices.”
When you look at health indicators, Kuartei added, Palau went from communicable diseases, or infectious diseases, to non-communicable diseases (NCD) or chronic illnesses. “So when we moved to NCD, the hospital does not have the cure. It’s the community that has the cure by the choices they make everyday,” Kuartei explained. And one of these indicators is obesity, he said.
The MOH is looking at school curriculums. Children need to learn about unhealthy behavior. School lunch need to be a balanced meal. There has to be more physical activities in school. And sometimes, children need to walk to and from school.
“Then at home, we need to look at what’s inside their refrigerators,” Kuartei said. “It needs to be more fruits and vegetables.” In the kitchen, rice and flour should be reduced. “We need to go more local with fish and taro.”
Kuartei compared the situation to that of an earthquake. The earthquake is really the bad choices that are taking place in an environment that makes unhealthy choices easier. The tsunami that is coming out of it is childhood obesity, and it’s going to hit us in the next generation.
“So the earthquake has started, the tsunami is already rolling, and if we’re not careful, it’s going to hit us in the next generation,” Kuartei said.
Palau supports the Pacific Islands Health Officers Association’s (PIHOA) declaration of State of Health Emergency due to the epidemic of non-communicable diseases in the United States-affiliated Pacific islands. According to Kuartei, they have recently obtained $10,000 funding from the government of Israel to begin working with the State governments.
The government of Israel also will be also sending experts in childhood obesity to help the MOH with its projects.
Kuartei, who is also the President of PIHOA, has left for Hawaii last weekend to meet with PIHOA officers. He said that when he gets back he will start with the projects with the MOE and the state legislators.
“We’re writing the Child Obesity Plan which will involve the State government and State legislators. So when I come back, I’m going to have a meeting with them. With the $10,000 funding that we have, we can start the projects around Palau.”
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