Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka shared a personal connection to diabetes during the launch of the Diabetes Campaign 2024 at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva on Friday. He expressed his concerns about his blood sugar levels, having lost familial ties due to the disease.
Recalling family tragedies, he mentioned that multiple loved ones suffered due to diabetes, including the blindness and eventual death of his mother, who also lost two infant sons to the illness. He emphasized the long-lasting impact diabetes had on his family’s life, stating, “She died in 1992, not being able to see me from 1963 to 1992 because she was blind all that time.”
Following a recent medical check-up, Rabuka highlighted the importance of monitoring health, particularly blood sugar levels. He revealed that an estimated 5,700 Fijians lost their lives to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in 2020, painting a grim picture of the public health crisis in Fiji, where about 80 percent of deaths are attributed to diabetes and other NCDs.
The Prime Minister warned that children, adults, and the elderly are all at risk due to unhealthy lifestyles, which include poor diets, lack of physical activity, exposure to tobacco smoke, and excessive alcohol consumption. He emphasized the increasing number of lives affected by chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, hypertension, and cancer.
Rabuka pointed out alarming statistics, noting that one in ten adults globally has diabetes, with over 90 percent being type 2 diabetes cases, many of which remain undiagnosed. He called for greater attention to health and well-being to combat the rising threat of diabetes in the nation.