Tonga PM urges island leaders to join diet contest

THE prime minister of Tonga has challenged his fellow leaders of Pacific island nations – which have the world’s highest rates of obesity – to a year-long weight-loss competition.

Lamenting the failure to curb rising obesity levels in the small island states, ‘Akilisi Pohiva, a former teacher, said he would propose the competition at a meeting next week of the 18-member Pacific Island Forum.

“We should all get together for a weight-loss competition, so when we meet the following year we will weigh in again and see who has lost the most,” he told The Samoa Observer.

“It is not about who loses the most kilos, but in order to shake off weight, you must eat light and having that healthy mentality will go a long way.”

According to data compiled by the CIA World Factbook, the 10 most obese countries in the world are all in the Pacific. This includes Nauru, where 61 per cent of the adult population is obese, the Cook Islands (56 per cent), Palau (55 per cent), the Marshall Islands (53 per cent), Tuvalu (52 per cent), Niue (50 per cent), and Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati and Federated States of Micronesia, which are all above 46 per cent. Britain has a rate of 28 per cent while, globally, about 12 per cent of adults are obese.

Urging Pacific leaders to set an example for their citizens, Mr Pohiva said life expectancy in Tonga had reduced from 71 to 68 years.

“The non-communicable disease [rates] and child obesity have everything to do with our eating habits and lifestyle and it is a complex issue when it comes to Pacific people,” he said.

“And with island leaders, we talk and talk, yet initiatives are not making an impact… We have been advocating the same issue but it doesn’t seem to work.”