Rohit Deo
14 May, 2021, 7:30 am
(Standing middle, L-R) Dr Gade Waqa, Dr Donald Wilson and Dr Jacqui Webster with other collaborative members. Picture: SUPPLIED
The current average daily salt intake in Fiji is 11.7 grams, which is more than twice the World Health Organisation recommended level of five grams a day.
This, according to a collaborative research project by the Fiji National University that states a minimal government investment in reducing salt intake could prevent 234 heart attacks and 72 strokes, resulting in 131 Fijian lives saved, and saving the government nearly $2million each year.
The study – ‘The Potential Impact of Salt Reduction in Fiji’ – was carried out by Health Technology Analysts as part of a collaboration between the Pacific Research Centre for the Prevention of Obesity and Non-Communicable Diseases (C-POND), a WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention and Management at the Fiji Institute of Pacific Health Research (FIPHR), the research