30 years ago, Pacific Islands health ministers declared the visionary Healthy Islands idea on Yanuca Island, Fiji. It laid out a profound, holistic framework: “Healthy Islands should be places where children thrive, people live and age with dignity, and ecological balance is a source of pride”. This approach anticipated the principles of today’s global Planetary Health movement.
The article argues that this prescient vision now demands urgent revitalisation amid escalating global crises.
Key Messages;
- The 1995 vision uniquely links human health with the health of the environment and the ocean, offering an ecological model for development.
- Measuring Planetary Health Progress: The current Healthy Islands Monitoring Framework under-represents the ecological determinants of health. Of its 47 indicators, only five reside in the environment or ecology pillar. This gap leaves decision makers partly blind to the ecological trends underpinning health outcomes.
- Need for Data: Strengthening environmental surveillance and linking it with health information systems will enable proactive, preventive policies. By investing in such inte-grated data systems and cross-sector analytical capacity, Pacific Island Countries and Territories can better manage the cascading effects of environmental change on health.
- Pacific Island Countries and Territories are among the most vulnerable globally. They face intertwined challenges, including trauma from extreme weather, threats to water and food security, and rising non-communicable disease burdens, all exacerbated by climate change.
With humanity pushing Earth beyond safe planetary boundaries, the Healthy Islands framework provides the essential cultural and ecological grounding needed to drive regional solidarity and collective action for a resilient future.