Medications for sufferers of non-communicable diseases make up 43 percent of the Cook Islands' overall drug budget.
This was a revelation by Ministry of Health official, Biribo Tekanene, during a national health conference on the burden posed by NCDs on the country's budget.
Cook Islands news reports 74 percent of deaths in the Cook Islands are due to NCDs.
Biribo Tekanene has called on doctors to take care with their prescribing, that they review prescriptions with vigilance and avoid bulk dispensing.
Another speaker at the conference called for New Zealand and the Cook Islands to focus on working together, running combined training programmes and sharing information.
The chief executive of South Auckland's Counties Manukau District Health Board, Geraint Martin, says he wants a stronger bond with the Cook Islands' health ministry.
The Board already has links with the Cook Islands and has tens of thousands of Cook Islanders living in its South Auckland catchment.
He says he wants to improve the health standards of Cook Islanders everywhere.
