Irene Chief’s words are stark as she describes what spurred her and her colleague Kama Ateca to do something about unhealthy diets in their island nation of Fiji. Seeing co-workers in their thirties or forties dying of heart attacks “will leave you traumatised,” she says. “We go to more and more funerals of young people… when people leave families at 30 or 40, we really need to look at our diet.”
This deep-seated concern at the impact of diet-related Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) led Irene, who works at the University of the South Pacific, and Ateca, who is a senior official at Fiji’s Health Ministry, to begin collaborating on the My Kana smartphone app. It helps Fijians both monitor what they’re eating and gives them guidance on planting vegetable gardens.
My Kana (meaning “food” in Fiji’s indigenous iTaukei language) was one of the innovations showcased at the Small Island Development States (SIDS) Solutions Forum, co-organized by FAO and the government of Fiji in August 2021.
The challenges the app is designed to address are far from unique to Fiji. In fact, many countries around the world, and many SIDS in particular, face a “triple burden of malnutrition” — underweight, overweight and obesity accompanied by micronutrient deficiencies.
Modern lifestyles are changing Fijians’ traditional dietary patterns from local root crops to a more cereal-dense diet and from eating local vegetables and fruits to consuming too much fatty, sugary or salty, often imported, processed foods.
The transformation is particularly pronounced among Fijians living in urban areas, whose diet and lifestyles have changed radically from those of their parents’ or grandparents’ generation.
“Our population is also consuming a lot more kilocalories, and with insufficient physical activity, that is contributing to NCDs,” Ateca says. According to Fiji’s Health Ministry, NCDs are responsible for around 80 percent of the deaths in the country and the numbers are growing.
So just how significant is this innovation, which sits on thousands of Fijians’ smartphones?
Irene says, “You have to remember that Fiji has 300 islands so how do you have people access information?”
Different from the laid-back, idyllic image of the South Pacific presented in novels or tourist brochures, island living presents many challenges, according to Irene. Boat journeys between islands are time-consuming and air trips expensive, “but we’re a very fast-changing society,” offers Irene.
With increasing deregulation of the internet, “we’re able to use mobile phones and that’s why we developed the app. With innovation, our people have always tried to find ways of adapting and adjusting especially when there’s not much money available. That’s why we also offer this app for free, which is unusual,” Irene adds.