Pastors Walk to Beat Diabetes

Wearing white t-shirts with “Let ‘s Fight Diabetes Together” emblazoned on the front, Pastors and Church leaders of the various Christian denominations who are members of ECREA today walked from the Albert Park to the LDS Chapel at Berry Road in Suva in a bid to proactively prevent and beat diabetes which is affecting about 18% of Fiji’s population.

According to Dr Dean Clark, a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , “the purpose of the pastors walk today was to show the community that the religious leaders are united in their efforts to fight diabetes. This is a national problem that can be best conquered by understanding that diabetes can be controlled by choosing to live a healthy lifestyle. “

This walk was followed by screening for Diabetes that was organised with Diabetes Fiji and a talk given by Dr Tukana the National Advisor for Non-Communicable Diseases followed by breakfast.

In his speech to the pastors Dr Tukana shared that communicable and non-communicable diseases (CDs and NCDs) are lifestyle diseases and these can be addressed by pastors and church leaders who are very influential over their flocks in the creation and changing of lifestyles. He said that he had been waiting since 2009 for an opportunity to talk to these leaders about wellness and how they can be part of the solution for Fiji because of their great influence.

The four main risk factors for NCDs are smoking , nutrition, alcohol, physical activities or SNAP. “ Dr Tukana said “ to deal with illness we need to have wellness and part of wellness is making a change in our lifestyles. The religious leaders will be the driving force behind World Diabetes Day which will be celebrated on 12 November 2016. Diabetes Fiji, as well as the Ministers of Health are anxious to support this day in reaching out to the community in an effort to control diabetes.