Assessing the Progress on the Implementation of Policy and Legislation Actions to Address the Non-communicable Diseases Crisis in the Pacific
Abstract
Aim
To assess the progress on the implementation of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) related policies and legislations in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs).
Materials and methods
The Pacific Monitoring Alliance for NCD Action (MANA) Dashboard was used to assess the progress of the implementation. The MANA Dashboard includes 31 indicators across four different domains such as leadership and governance; preventative policies and legislations; health system response programs; and monitoring. This progress assessment was conducted between 2019 and 2020 for all 21 PICTs. The data were analyzed and compared with the baseline status (2018) report and presented across four different domains of the MANA dashboard.
Results
This progress assessment found that PICTs overall have made advancements in a number of areas.
- The establishment of a national multi-sectoral NCD taskforce.
- Implementation of referenced approaches to restrict trans-fat in the food supply in national documents.
- Fiscal measures to affect access and availability to less healthy foods and drinks.
However, the strengths of actions varied across PICTs, and most are categorized as low strengths. Measures that had the most limited progress in implementation include policy and legislation that restrict alcohol advertising; tobacco industry interference; marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children; and marketing for breast milk substitutes.
Conclusions
This progress assessment further highlights that while PICTs continue to make progress, NCD policy and legislation gaps still exist, both in terms of weaknesses of existing measures and areas that have had little attention to date. These require urgent actions to scale up NCD-related policies and legislation at the regional and national levels.
