Shania Shayal Prasad 
[File Photo]
School health in Fiji is falling behind and it’s not for lack of plans but people.
Chief Dietitian Ateca Kama said the nationwide rollout of the Health Promoting Schools program has stalled, with critical positions lost after international funding dried up.
Kama told the Public Accounts Committee that the goal is for every school to be part of the program, but that ambition is on hold.
Ateca Kama [File Photo]
She adds that only 285 of over 1,700 schools are currently covered, despite a full training package being in place.
“The requirement at that time was to have, and it still is to have, all the schools, 1,300 plus schools, to be declared as Health Promoting Schools. But that work had taken a pause simply because the HPS, Health Promoting Schools District, there’s a term for them, the funding from WHO had ended, and so these positions have been lost.”
Kama states that the training package also supports water and sanitation, and mental health.
“There’s an entire training package on the school health canteens that is already available. It’s the manpower that we need to progress this work not only for nutrition, but for wash and mental health as well.”
Kama believes that the tools are there and the need is clear, but without funding for people to drive it, Fiji’s plan to raise healthier schoolchildren remains stuck in neutral.
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