New national survey data released this year shows Fiji is facing an intensifying obesity crisis, with almost 40 percent of the population now classified as obese and just 28.5 percent at a normal body mass index, health officials warned on Monday. The latest STEPwise approach to NCD risk factor surveillance (STEPS) survey, based on data collected in 2025, found 39.9 percent of Fijians are obese and a further 29.2 percent are overweight — meaning roughly seven in 10 adults carry excess weight.
Dr Momtaz Ahmed, principal medical officer at the National Diabetes Centre, said the figures underline a severe public health challenge that is particularly acute across the Pacific. “We already know that there is a high rise of obesity over the world,” Dr Ahmed said, noting many Pacific nations rank among the top 10 countries with the highest obesity burdens globally. “And Fiji also has a high burden of obesity.” He stressed that obesity and overweight are principal risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that drive the country’s growing diabetes, hypertension and cancer caseloads.
The STEPS results, released this year but collected in 2025, mark the most recent nationwide snapshot of lifestyle-related risk factors and will be used by health planners to refine prevention and treatment strategies. Dr Ahmed emphasised the preventable nature of most obesity-related disease, saying the statistics should prompt stronger public health action to reduce downstream NCD pressures on families and the health system.
Health Minister Dr Ratu Atonio Lalabalavu, speaking at a joint World Obesity Day and International Women’s Day event in Suva, highlighted a gendered dimension to the crisis. “Women in Fiji experience higher rates of obesity compared to men in many age groups,” he said, adding that women’s roles as mothers, caregivers and household health decision-makers mean interventions that empower women can produce broader family and community benefits. The minister’s remarks drew a direct line between preventing obesity and improving family health outcomes.
The new STEPS figures reinforce concerns raised in recent years by advocacy groups and clinicians. In mid‑2025 Diabetes Fiji Inc. urged a unified national response to escalating diabetes rates, framing the problem as a public health emergency that requires coordinated prevention, screening and management. Other public health voices have called for culturally informed, community-led approaches that incorporate spiritual and social drivers of behaviour change alongside clinical services.
Public health experts say the immediate priorities are clearer: scale up community education on diet and physical activity, strengthen screening and early intervention for overweight and obesity, and design policies that make healthier choices easier and more affordable. With nearly 70 percent of adults now overweight or obese, officials warn that without decisive action Fiji will continue to see rising burdens of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other preventable NCDs.
Leave a comment