NCDs National Plan Prameeta Chand, Suva

The availability and sale of consumables that cause NCDs should not be readily accessible in every school canteen and governmental working environment.

What one eats or drinks in their comfort cannot be controlled, but when we as a nation are fighting against the rise of NCDs measures can and ought to be put in schools and governmental surrounds.

If authorities are truly concerned, then unhealthy options for consumables shouldn’t be made available in these controllable arenas. It’s not one’s parcel but the public package provision that needs change and control in these premises to start.

Apart from this, a regular check in a particular time frame of civil servants’ mental stress and pressure ought to be put in place to keep a tab on their health status and performance ability. If stringent measures aren’t put in place, then fighting NCDs in this atmosphere will be a losing battle. If this supply and health check policy is made compulsory in the civil service only, then will individuals be compelled to make lifestyle changes for their own benefit? We always hear about workload and stress management, so if these checks are put in place, only then will we be able to evaluate and analyse the civil service workforce. As far as NCDs are concerned, it is the civil sector that can be controlled under government measures. People’s choices in private and public settings are at their pleasure. “Lifestyle diseases cannot be controlled by the spread of the word alone. For NCDs National Development Plan - Take a Positive Step Where You Can”!