Perhaps, it wasn’t a coincidence that a research paper on obesity and obesity-related diseases, authored by respected Samoan medical academic, Toleafoa Dr Viali Lameko got published last month.

Amid a COVID-19 pandemic, which just a few months ago no one envisaged would happen in coronavirus-free Samoa, the research paper published in a medical journal should compel us to start joining the dots between noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and the vulnerable of its patients to the spreading virus.

In the article titled “Does Samoa have adequate policies to reduce obesity and obesity-related disease?” released online on 16 March, the Oceania University of Medicine (O.U.M.) academic was critical of the Ministry of Health’s obesity-targeted programmes and how after years of implementation failed to yield the results desired.

You have to read the whole article in the medical journal to get a sense of appreciation of how Toleafoa, in his analysis of obesity-focused programmes, pinpointed the areas of failure by both the M.O.H. as well as successive Samoa Governments to tackle increasing obesity rates among the general population.

One of the key areas of the O.U.M. academic’s research that a Samoa Observer article (No clinical evidence of success against obesity: academic) focused on was the shift in Samoans’ consumption habits from a traditional diet – predominantly vegetable and root and tree crops with seafood and native birds – to processed food today.

“In that period, the traditional Samoan diet of staple vegetable root and tree crops, coconut, fish and other seafood, native birds, and more rarely, pork and chicken have largely been replaced by imported processed foods such as canned and brined beef, canned fish, mutton flaps, factory-farmed chicken, turkey tails, heavily sweetened beverages, bread and other flour-baked goods, and rice, to name a few.”

The preference for processed food over our traditional diets: it is human behaviour that we see happening every day. Even during the pandemic-connected lockdowns in recent weeks. The closure of supermarkets and retail outlets in Apia during the lockdown, in fact, gave us the best chance to consider living and eating healthy.

But pictures published by this newspaper in recent weeks, showing hundreds converging on “essential services” in Apia three days a week to replenish food stock, immediately tells us we are fighting a losing battle to change behaviour.

Toleafoa also tells us that the Government’s obesity-targeted programmes have structural issues and he highlights the dwindling role of health-focused village women committees, which in the 1970s and 1980s played a critical role in promoting preventive healthcare programmes at the community level.

The O.U.M. academic was spot on in his analysis on the role of the village women committees, which enabled the women committees in the different villages to play a more proactive role in promoting healthcare.

A portion of the research paper also focused on the failure by successive Governments to introduce strict advertising laws targeting sugary products with Toleafoa decrying the practice of running television advertising promoting sugary drinks and products during prime time.

“In addition, the recent health-sponsored television commercials do not mention the importance of reducing the consumption of sugar in their diet but focus only on performing physical exercise and eating vegetables,” reads a 2014 study that the O.U.M. academic quoted in his research paper. “Shown on prime time TV, they are often followed by advertisements for sweet drinks and other sugary products by local manufacturers and retailers.”

It is mind boggling how the local authorities continue to allow advertising of sugary drinks and products during prime time television when we have some of the world’s highest obesity prevalence rates.

And Toleafoa’s conclusion that "obesity is a political as well as a policy issue" – in terms of identifying and formulating long-term solutions – is a reality check for us to keep us abreast of the challenges that lay ahead, if Samoa is to address this health crisis.

"If the Government of Samoa is to offset the rising cost of treating NCDs, it will have to adopt a more active multi-sectoral approach which could include laws, taxes, tariffs, and subsidies to increase consumption of fresh local food and decrease consumption of imported food.”

The O.U.M. academic is correct, it is time for the Government to go beyond the M.O.H. and bring in the other sectors to begin discussions on finding a permanent solution. The private sector and its members, especially retail outlets, wholesale businesses and manufacturers should also be part of the conversation.