19 Nov 2009

Samoa campaign targets lifestyle diseases

2:10 pm on 19 November 2009

People in Samoa are being encouraged to get physically active in an effort to reduce the incidence of non-communicable diseases.

The General Manager of Samoa's National Health Services, Dr Stanley Dean, says a Healthy Lifestyle Week has been held as part of a campaign to encourage people to change their sedentary lifestyle and watch their food intake.

He says poor health will also become a burden on the health budget.

"We have a definite increase in both obesity, diabetes and hypertension and heart disease. They have to change their habits and their lifestyle in order to improve their quality of life and also cut down the expenses from the cost of these diseases in the future."

Dr Stanley Dean says Samoa spends millions of dollars each year sending people overseas to places like New Zealand for medical treatment.