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NEWS: Development - "Nhia’s Exercise Club on Malekula"

NEWS: Development - "Nhia’s Exercise Club on Malekula"

Author: Peace Corps Volunteer Nhia

Source: The Daily Post

Published: December 3rd, 2019

In Brief: Volunteer Nhia talks about her work with the mamas in her community. Commenting on Non-communicable diseases in Vanuatu. From the Article:

"As Peace Corps health volunteers in Vanuatu, it’s not always easy to determine what our role in the communities we serve are but let me show you a picture of the state of health in the Pacific and particularly, Vanuatu.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are chronic diseases, tend to be of long duration and are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behaviors factors. They include cardiovascular diseases, e.g. high blood pressure and heart attack, to cancers, chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and COPD, and diabetes. NCDs have become a challenging issue not just affecting health and developed nations but is on the rise as an international epidemic, especially hitting hard the developing world and lower-income populations.

The Pacific region, which is only home to a quarter of the world’s population and includes Vanuatu, houses some of the highest rates of an overweight population, from more than 50% to as high as 90% of the population. In the Pacific it is responsible for 80% of all deaths and 40% of the population has been diagnosed with NCDs. In Vanuatu specifically, it accounts for 70% of all deaths and cardiovascular diseases accounts for over 1/3 of all total death of all ages. In a study done in 2013, only 5% of adult females and 10% of adult males were free of any of the preventable risk factors for acquiring NCDs.

Atchin is a community comprised of over 20 villages with a population of over 2,000 peoples. In relation to the country statistics for NCDs, Atchin is relatively low but as my counterpart pointed out, its most likely due to undiagnosed cases because of lack of screening. Back in 2017, we began a new screening program for NCD as part of our community outreach, which already had a strong childhood vaccination program. My counterpart, who is the area nurse, along with my nurse aid and nurse practitioner and I, we would rotate every week where our screening was held and a few times, sessions were held on market days. This was successful in that we were able to promote awareness as well as encouraged anyone to stop by during clinic hours for a free screening and consultation which included a blood pressure check, BMI calculations, blood sugar, waist measurements and health education.

On the side, I was doing exercise off and on, sometimes by myself and sometimes with my host siblings and sometimes with children from my village. Exercise has so many benefits and it was something that could be started, sustained and shared. In early January of 2019, I felt confident enough in my relationship with my community that I decided it was time to start an exercise program. The exercise club was opened to anyone, children, women and men, young and old. With enthusiasm and support from all of my colleagues at the clinic, we started running it twice a week in the afternoons on the clinic grounds. It started out with only 3 of us and then through a different collaboration with one of my French primary schools, the principal heard about it. She approached me and wanted to bring her class to participate as part of their sports program. We grew from there, and she along with my staff began encouraging anyone and everyone to join – people walking on the road, family members, and even the truck drivers! A few men attended but it grew to be mostly woman, mamas from the nearby villages, young and old and children. I was so surprised but extremely humbled by the support, enthusiasm and strength of all these women."

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