Globalisation, food and health in Pacific Island co untries

Pacific Island countries (PICs) are experiencing an epidemic of obesity and consequent chronic diseases . Despite investment in the development of National P lans of Action for Nutrition (NPANs) and interventi ons to promote healthy eating and physical activity, nutri tional status appears to show little improvement. This paper presents a synthesis of the findings from two resea rch papers that were prepared for a 2003 food safet y and quality meeting in Nadi, Fiji. The findings indica te that although lifestyle behaviours might be the immediate cause of dietary imbalances, greater attention shou ld focus on omnipresent influences of globalisation as a critical element of the nutrition transition in the Pacific. In particular, those aspects of globalis ation mediated through the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreements that are placing pressures on food security and fostering increased dependence on imported food of poor nutritional quality. Rapid, significant and su stainable improvements in public health in PICs require interv entions that can tackle these underlying contributo rs to ill health. There are opportunities to explore the use of food regulatory approaches to influence the comp osition, availability and accessibility of food products. W ithin the context of the WTO Agreements the legitimacy of food regulatory approaches will depend upon the cas e to demonstrate the relationship between the inter vention and the protection of food security and public heal th nutrition. The challenges in realising these op portunities are: 1) to have the capacity to construct a case, 2 ) meet the technical and financial demands to admin ister and enforce regulatory approaches, and 3) to take advan tage of opportunities available and to be able to f ully participate in the international policy-making proc ess.