Last Updated on 9 years by Publishing Team

The Minister For Health and Medical services Mr Jone Usamate discusses a point with an agriculture official at the world Food Day celebrations in Kalabu

“Make time for wellness or make time for illness” was the powerful message sent out to the children and the public at the World food day celebrations 2015 at Kalabu Primary School.

While launching the program The Minister for Health and Medical Services Mr Jone Usamate said that people must practice healthy living by having healthy diets for a longer life.

Mr Usamate added that while we need food to live, we must eat healthy foods as they contribute much to our healthy wellbeing.

“We need food to live our lives. Without food, we will die in a very short time. With the wrong food eaten, you will quickly get illnesses of NCD nature. It is very important then that we eat healthy meals of good nutritious value”.

While Fijians are urged to concentrate on their diets, the government through the MoHMS has pledged to address the issue by providing social protection in line with this year’s theme: “Social Protection and Agriculture: Breaking the Cycle of Rural Poverty’’.

Social protection includes many different things designed to address the vulnerability of people’s lives and livelihoods, for example:

• Social insurance, offering protection against risk and adversity throughout life.
• Social assistance, offering payments and in kind transfers to support and enable the poor.
• Social inclusion efforts that enhance the capability of the marginalized to participate fully in economic and social life and to access social protection and other social services.

These social protection measures provide several opportunities for people to lead fruitful and productive lives and to emerge out of poverty.

It’s a fact of life that people who don’t eat well are not healthy and they do not have energy to work and remain poor or even get worse.

Mr Usamate also highlighted some of the government policies to provide social protection which is a strong priority of the government, such as provision of milk to children, the food voucher program, pension benefits for citizens over 70, etc.