Fiji’s largest indoor fitness centre, True Fitness, opened at the True Mart Complex in Navua yesterday, with business and government leaders casting the launch as a timely response to the country’s escalating non‑communicable disease (NCD) crisis. At the ribbon‑cutting, Grace Road Group president Daniel Kim warned that NCDs now account for more than 80 percent of deaths in Fiji and said over 95 percent of adults carry at least one major risk factor for conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and hypertension.
“Fitness is not simply about appearance or physical beauty,” Kim said during the launch. “It is the state where the body is strong, functional, and full of energy. Fitness is built through discipline, sustained by consistency and determination.” He framed the new facility as part of an effort to reverse current trends by making structured exercise and wellness more accessible to the general public.
Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources Filimoni Vosarogo attended the opening and welcomed the private‑sector move into the wellness field. “By stepping into the fitness and wellness space, Grace Road is responding to a real and growing need in our community and in our future,” Vosarogo said. He described True Fitness as “more than just a gym” — a space that encourages discipline and supports both physical and mental well‑being — and added that such developments are no longer optional for a nation facing a heavy NCD burden.
The Navua centre, billed as the country’s largest indoor gym, is the latest private initiative to target lifestyle factors that public health authorities have repeatedly flagged as drivers of illness and premature death. While the launch focused on motivation and community benefit, organisers emphasised the behavioural side of prevention — regular activity, consistent routines and personal commitment — rather than medical treatment alone.
Public‑health experts in Fiji have long warned that high rates of obesity, physical inactivity, unhealthy diets and tobacco and alcohol use are fuelling the rise in chronic disease. The figures cited at yesterday’s launch — that more than four in five deaths are due to NCDs and that almost every adult has at least one major risk factor — underline the scale of the challenge and the potential for prevention through lifestyle change.
True Fitness’s opening signals a growing role for private enterprises in complementing government health efforts by providing community spaces for exercise and wellness programming. At the launch, both Kim and Vosarogo urged broader community engagement with healthier habits, framing the new centre as one element in a larger push to reduce NCDs and improve long‑term wellbeing across Fiji.