In our previous column, we presented the details of the ten leading causes of death among the present Samoan population: it did not offer pleasant reading, especially when the statistics highlight that 81 per cent of premature deaths are due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Fortunately, there is a ‘flip side of this coin’ that offers a rosier future for those of us afflicted with NCD conditions. Let me explain. There is now overwhelming scientific evidence, which has increasingly been reported for more than 30 years in prestigious international scientific journals that whole-foods, plant-based (WFPB) nutrition, which METI has been promoting for the past 10 years, holds the key to the prevention and even reversal of these NCD conditions.

In 2013, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and with financial support from WHO, METI opened its ‘Healthy Living Clinic’ and designed a 3-hour interactive health seminar course aimed at making the Samoan public aware of the measures to be taken to reverse the NCD conditions. During the Health Seminar, cooking guidelines are offered that are aligned with the traditional Samoan foods.

Over the years, METI has publicised success stories of ‘NCD reversals’ in the leading local newspaper; grateful patients have been and are giving their testimonies on the Breakfast show of the local TV stations and a steady flow of individuals affected by NCD keep attending METI’s Healthy Living Clinic. 

In 2018, thanks to government funding, METI undertook a one-year project in four villages, promoting the WFPB diet and targeting the known NCD sufferers, based on its ‘Taiala’ program (whereby trusted individuals, selected by the Women’s Committee (WC) are trained (by METI) to help implement the Project activities). 

On average, in the 4 villages combined, 75 per cent of the patients following the WFPB diet reversed their NCD conditions. However, there were marked differences in results between the villages, ranging from a high of 93 per cent reversals to a low of 46 per cent. An analysis of these results allowed us to identify the five critical conditions that should be present at the village level for successful Community Action for Healthy Living (focused on applying the WFPB nutritional approach to reverse the identified NCD conditions). 

One of the most favourable conditions is the presence in the community of what we call a ‘champion’, who is a well-respected ‘opinion leader’ in the village, who has personally benefitted from the WFPB diet and who can rally the community to action. In the village where 93 per cent of the identified NCD cases reversed their condition, there was such a ‘champion’: it happened to be the local pastor, who constantly encouraged and inspired his parishioners! He emphasized the importance of ensuring that the family gives full support to the NCD sufferer wanting to follow the WFPB diet, which for some is difficult in the beginning. 

In this way, not only there was a built-in ‘buddy system’ that helped them to stay on course to recover their health, but in addition, in many cases, out of solidarity, the rest of the family also started to adopt the WFPB diet: a truly win-win situation! A present encouraging development is that several women’s committees are willing to work together with METI. Selected members of the Committee are being trained by METI to become ‘Taiala’ (or frontline multipurpose community workers) able to take an active role in identifying NCD sufferers, coach them to adopt the WFPB diet and follow and record their progress towards health recovery. In this way, there is a revival of a spirit of self-reliance, which last century was so strongly represented by the ‘Komiti Tumama’ (Cleanliness Committee) in every Samoan village. Indeed, as detailed in one of Dr Penelope Schoeffel’s articles, historically, sustained efforts by the New Zealand administration and individual local doctors and nurses, in the years between the two World Wars, were able to empower women in the health field. The Komiti Tumamā (as they were called), which brought together the three female status groups in practically every village of the country, have now been credited with having played a “crucial role in preventive medicine at the village level: they embodied all the principles now subsumed under the rubric ‘primary health care’". 

The successful growth of a rural, self-help system of primary health care resulted from the use of traditional institutions to promote new practices in sanitation and health care.” So, by rallying the support of the women’s committees to play an active role in project implementation to counter the ravages caused by the NCD conditions, METI is not breaking new ground.

We believe that the community approach to counter NCD will lead to re-activate the spirit of self-reliance that was so prominent among the Samoan women’s committees in the first half of last century and further lead to the reaffirmation of the traditional role of the ‘women’s committee’ in the Samoan context. We invite you to visit METI’s Healthy Living Clinic at House No. 51 at Motootua (across from the Kokobanana Restaurant) to become acquainted with METI’s whole food plant-based diet and Lifestyle Change programs. Or call us at 30550. Learning how to follow these Programs might be your ‘game changer’!