With one of the highest rates of obesity, the world’s smallest island nation faces an obesity epidemic far from small. The Pacific Island nation of Nauru holds the title for the highest rates of diet-related non-communicable disease, (DR-NCD) almost 90% of adults are classified as overweight, with over 60% of those also clinically obese. As a result of poor nutrition and inactivity, DR-NCDs threaten Nauru’s population with stokes, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and heart attacks.
Of course, there are several factors that contribute to obesity, including mental health and poverty, however, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Republic of Nauru both agree that the country’s obesity is to be blamed on diet choices and inactivity. But what initiated these unhealthy choices?
Colonialism and Globalisation
To begin, according to Dr Amy McLennan, ethnographic researcher, with expertise in health medicine, Nauru’s “people have experienced a long history of nutritional change linked to broader processes of colonialism and globalisation”.
Following independence in 1968, Nauru saw an economic boom from mining. Phosphate deposits on the island, discovered during colonialism, continued to be exported. By 1974, Nauru had the second highest GDP per capita in the world, generating 138 million euros that year. As the richest country in the Pacific, Nauru experienced rapid globalisation and Westernisation. However, this prosperity was short lived, and when the phosphate deposits depleted and, Nauru’s economy began to collapse.
Westernisation
The country’s economic crisis was matched by a health crisis, due to the overly quick adoption of a consumerist and Westernised society. The rapid increase in wealth resulted in a more sedentary lifestyle and an influx of Western imports. These imports included the introduction of a Western/American diet. Traditional diets which mostly consisted of fish and vegetables were replaced with cheap and processed Western food. Highly processed foods filled with sugar, salt and fat became the new cultural norm.
To make matters worse, now that mining has stripped most of the island, little food is locally grown and cultivated.
The Need for Health Policies
Dr Nicholas Foster, researcher for Pan American Health Organisation, states that “the significant contribution of dietary changes to food environments and obesity rates in Caribbean and Pacific, highlights the need for policies and laws that support the availability of affordable, healthy food”.
With this in mind, Nauru is desperately trying to implement policies to encourage a healthier lifestyle. These include policies surrounding taxation and subsidies, education systems and, local cultivation. However, efforts thus far have resulted in little change and the dependence on highly processed imported foods continues to perpetuate Nauru’s obesity epidemic.
Obesity is Borderless
Sadly, Nauru’s obesity epidemic does not sit in isolation somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Obesity is a global public health problem whose incidence continues to increase. According to the WHO, the number of cases worldwide has almost tripled since 1975. This major public health issue is also one that affects France.
A recent study by the French League Against Obesity and Montpellier University Hospital, published in 2023 in the Journal of Clinic Medicine, Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in France, reveals the severity of the issue in France.
The study reveals the extent of the problem in highlighting that 47% of French adults are medically classified as obese or overweight. The study also provides detailed insights into affected populations by age group, region, and socio-professional activity, which can help refine targeted prevention policies.
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