UN General Assembly
2018

The biggest threat facing the Pacific islands, apart from climate change, is the threat caused by non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Approximately 70 to 80 per cent of all deaths in the Pacific can be attributed to NCDs, with many of those deaths being premature. In the Pacific, including in Solomon Islands, the high prevalence of NCDs translates into an economic burden on health-care systems. Two thirds of the beds in the National Referral Hospital in Honiara, our capital, are occupied by NCD patients. The burden that NCDs poses on the productivity of the people of Solomon Islands and the opportunities forgone in order to provide care for NCD patients make that issue a key socioeconomic concern for an economy with a small human-resource base. The international community has already acknowledged, in the Samoa Pathway, the challenges posed by NCDs to small island developing States. Now is the time for action.