The Turaga Na Tui Namosi, Ratu Suliano Matanitobua raised his concerns yesterday about the state of health of the people of Namosi.

“In the olden days we had no hospitals, roads or education but people still managed to live healthy and long lives. We had people who lived more than 100 years and now people die before reaching 70 years,” Ratu Suliano said.

He said many were affected by communicable and non-communicable diseases which has become a social burden for the nation.

The Namosi chief attributed the reasons for people getting sick and dying early to a number of factors.

This include bad diet or poor eating habits, lack of exercise, substance abuse and environmental degradation.

Ratu Suliano was speaking yesterday during the Namosi Provincial Council meeting yesterday at the Ro Kuruduadua House in Navua.

Chief guest at the meeting, the national Adviser for Non-Communicable Diseases, Dr Isimeli Tukana advised the council  to eat land based organic food.

He was worried about the adverse effects of some of the projects taking place in Namosi and questioned whether or not the department responsible had carried out the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) which was yet to be made public.

Dr Tukana said it was a fact that the majority of the people in rural areas including those in Namosi province preferred processed food.

“When you drink, you should always have fresh water and not sweet juices,” Dr Tukana said.

“Other drinks include alcohol is bad for your health and that is why you should drink fresh water, coconut juice or other fruits.”

For workers, he said the demand from the workplace was big and most spent more time sitting down with very little exercise.

He advised them to:

walk for 30 minutes or one hour a day.

the body needs to rest, sleep for at least five hours or more.

Ratu Suliano said many were affected by communicable and non-communicable diseases which was  a social burden for the nation.

Subbed Rusiate Mataika

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