In 2017 a survey of 4,000 elementary students in Majuro, capital of the Marshall Islands, found that 10 percent of fee-paying school students and 25 percent of state school students were overweight, and 85 percent of them ate vegetables 5 or fewer days a week.
The Marshall Islands 60,000 inhabitants live spread out over 29 coral atolls in the Pacific Ocean and live on a diet described as “ripe for diabetes.”
Dietician Brenda Davis, of the CWC’s (Canvasback Wellness Centre) Diabetes Wellness Program told the World Diabetes Foundation that with: “children indulging in popsicles and soda or eating ramen noodles with Kool-Aid powder sprinkled on top for breakfast and families dining on white rice, meat, and sweet beverages for lunch and dinner every day. “It would be difficult to design a diet that could more efficiently induce type 2 diabetes than the one Marshallese people have adopted.”
In partnership with Canvasbeck Missions, a faith-based organisation, the CWC has been running an education programme in lifestyle diseases, to reduce the incidence of diabetes and other poor health.
WDF first met Canvasback Missions, the faithbased organisation that jointly runs the CWC with several Marshallese ministries, about a decade ago. Those involved hope this programme will reach other nations and help influence their health programs. For more information, see the project description on WDF’s website.
https://www.worlddiabetesfoundation.org/news/challenging-food-culture-marshall-islands