Health and nutrition in the Pacific islands: Development or underdevelopment?

Although modernization has undoubtedly brought about significant improvements in and access to modern health services and has lowered the previously high incidence of some infectious diseases and perinatal deaths, there is increasingly widespread evidence that some old and some new, often very serious health and nutritional problems still exist in all parts of the often “Edenized” Pacific islands. Although “development” has occurred, both infectious and non-communicable degenerative diseases, perinatal mortality, and nuclear pollution still constitute major health problems, and food systems, nutritional status, and nutrition-linked health seem to have deteriorated.