Project Report – Fiji 2010 - Pacific Health Voices

Figure 1 : Distribution of deaths in Fiji by cause groups, 2007
VAW is under NCD within the components of Injury and Poisoning. It is also reflected in the National NCD
Strategic Plan 2011-2014 under Injuries.
The last national NCD STEPS Survey 2002 21 found that of the 6783 individuals sampled:
The overall population of overweight (BMI 25-29.9) in the Fiji population between the ages of 15-64
years was 29% and for obesity 18%. Generally the females had higher BMI than males (mean BMI 26.7
vs 24.2) Fijians more than Indo Fijians. There is also a rapid increase in the proportion of
overweight/obesity in both genders prior to the age of 30years. By measurement of waist – hip ratio
(WHR) there was a significantly higher rate of high risk central obesity among females (45%) than males
(4%). The prevalence of diabetes in Fiji among 25-64yrs old was 16 %, & among them the proportion of
newly diagnosed cases was 53.2%.There is a much higher proportion of diabetes among the Indo Fijians
(21.2%) as compared with Fijians (11.5%) There is also difference in the overall prevalence of diabetes by
locality with a prevalence of 24.7% in the urban & 12.8% in the rural.
The prevalence of hypertension in the population 15-64years was 19.1% and 63% of them were newly
diagnosed. There is a higher proportion of hypertension among Fijians ((21%) as compared with Indo-
Fijians (16%) and the proportion of uncontrolled previously diagnosed cases is higher among Fijians
(81%) than among Indo-Fijians (58%). There was generally low consumption of fruits and vegetables with
66% of survey participants eating less than one serving of fruit per day and 26% eating less than one
serving of vegetables per day.
There was also a higher proportion of urban males (49%) in the high-risk triglycerides group
(>=1.70mmol/L) as compared to either rural males (24%) or urban females (28%). HDL cholesterol levels
were used to categorize individuals into a high risk group (