Small Island Developing States: addressing the intersecting challenges of non-communicable diseases, food insecurity, and climate change

Cornelia Guell; Arlette Saint Ville; Simon G Anderson; Madhuvanti M Murphy; Viliamu Iese; Sashi Kiran; Gordon M Hickey; Nigel Unwin

doi:10.1016/S2213-8587(24)00100-1

Small Island Developing States: addressing the intersecting challenges of non-communicable diseases, food insecurity, and climate change

Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2024 Jun;12(6):422-432. doi: 10.1016/S2213-8587(24)00100-1.

Authors

Cornelia Guell¹, Arlette Saint Ville², Simon G Anderson³, Madhuvanti M Murphy³, Viliamu Iese⁴, Sashi Kiran⁵, Gordon M Hickey⁶, Nigel Unwin⁷

Affiliations

¹ European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Penryn Campus, Penryn, UK.
² Faculty of Food and Agriculture, University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago.
³ George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre, Caribbean Institute for Health Research, University of the West Indies, Bridgetown, Barbados.
⁴ Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development, The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji; School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Dookie, VIC, Australia.
⁵ Foundation for Rural Integrated Enterprises and Development, Tuvu, Lautoka, Fiji; Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Suva, Fiji.
⁶ Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada.
⁷ European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Penryn Campus, Penryn, UK; MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 38782517
DOI: 10.1016/S2213-8587(24)00100-1

Abstract

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) include 37 UN member countries sharing economic, environmental, and social vulnerabilities and intractable health challenges. In over 80% of SIDS, more than one in six adults die prematurely from a non-communicable disease (NCD), with poor diet being a major factor. Complex upstream food system determinants include marginalised local food production and reliance on low nutritional quality food imports. These drivers need to be seen against colonial and post-colonial political-economic legacies as well as the environmental and climate crises that challenge local production systems. A range of policy commitments (eg, the 2023 Bridgetown Declaration on NCDs and Mental Health) highlight these complex interdependencies and call for cross-sectoral food system policies to improve food security, food sovereignty, and nutrition, including integrating measures for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Although addressing these intersecting challenges will also depend on global efforts, the unique approach of SIDS can inform other settings.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Climate Change*
Developing Countries*
Food Insecurity*
Food Supply
Humans
Noncommunicable Diseases* / epidemiology
Noncommunicable Diseases* / prevention & control