School food programmes in the Pacific Islands: exploring opportunities and challenges for creating healthier school food environments.

OBJECTIVE: The school setting can provide an environment that supports healthy behaviours, including the provision of food. School food activities, that is, school feeding, are commonplace globally, but not well understood in the Pacific Islands region. The aim of this research is to explore learnings associated within existing school food programmes (SFP), and adoption resistors in those Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICT) without SFP, with the intent of improving current and future SFP interventions. DESIGN: This observational cross-sectional study utilised four facilitated workshop sessions to explore SFP within an existing framework. SETTING: Pacific Islands region. PARTICIPANTS: Fourteen participants representing the education and health sectors from eleven PICT, and two participants representing regional organisations. RESULTS: Most countries reported some form of related policy, but key critical constraints to the use of SFP included local food environments, strategic alignment to organisational priorities, advocacy and organisational leadership, and community and cultural connections and collaboration. There are opportunities for integration of SFP into existing frameworks (i.e. Health Promoting Schools), increased collaboration, greater professional development and awareness activities, improved monitoring and evaluation, improved awareness of SFP and promotion of healthy eating for the wider school community. CONCLUSIONS: Given the current health, social and economic challenges faced by countries and territories in the Pacific Islands region, SFP should be considered as an opportunity for food provision and associated nutrition education for students and their wider community. Further research is needed to understand the critical constraints of SFP in this region and how to support stakeholders to advocate for, develop and sustain SFP that are contextually and culturally appropriate.

Food literacy in Pacific Island countries: a scoping review protocol.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this scoping review is to identify how food literacy is characterized and measured in the context of the Pacific Islands, and describe food literacy initiatives that may inform future policy, practice, and research. INTRODUCTION: "Food literacy" is an emerging term used to describe the knowledge, skills, and behaviors required from individuals, households, communities, or nations to make healthy food choices. Given the complexity of changing food systems and the significant health challenges facing Pacific Island communities, understanding the evidence on food literacy in these communities may contribute to ensuring adequate nutrition for this population. INCLUSION CRITERIA: The scoping review will examine all evidence that broadly defines, describes, measures, or explores food literacy and/or its components in residents of Pacific Island countries and territories, of any age or gender. Evidence on initiatives implemented to improve food literacy within this population will also be considered. Countries will be limited to member countries of "the Pacific Community." METHODS: Key information sources to be searched for publications will include databases CABI, EBSCO, and Scopus, along with Google Scholar and Google for gray literature. Experts from relevant organizations and agencies will be contacted to locate additional sources. Results will be restricted to sources from the previous 30 years, available in English and French. Data will be extracted by two or more independent reviewers using a data extraction tool. Results will be presented with a narrative summary, accompanied by tabulated and/or charted results.

Dietary assessment methodology and reporting in Pacific Island research: a scoping review protocol.

OBJECTIVE: This scoping review aims to identify and describe the methods used to collect and analyze dietary intake data in residents of Pacific Island countries. INTRODUCTION: Dietary assessment explores associations between dietary factors and health outcomes. In regions, including the Pacific Islands, where diet-related, non-communicable diseases are increasing, this is a growing area of research. As this information is used to inform food and nutrition policies and practice, accurate collection, analysis, and interpretation of dietary assessment data relies on robust methods. A greater understanding of how nutrition studies are designed can strengthen the evidence on nutrition and health in Pacific Island settings and inform future research approaches. INCLUSION CRITERIA: The scoping review will consider studies published in peer-reviewed journals, including quantitative and qualitative study designs and gray literature, including government reports, research and technical reports, theses and dissertations that measure and/or assess dietary intake in resident populations of the Pacific Island member countries of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community: American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, French Polynesia, Guam, the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, the Independent State of Samoa, the Kingdom of Tonga, New Caledonia, Niue, Pitcairn Islands, the Republic of Fiji, the Republic of Kiribati, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Nauru, the Republic of Palau, the Republic of Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tuvalu, and Wallis and Futuna. METHODS: There will be no time limit and searches will be conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, CABI, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science. Results will be limited to English-language articles. Data will be extracted independently by two reviewers into a charting table. Results will be presented graphically and with tables accompanied by a narrative summary.

Dietary Diversity of an Adult Solomon Islands Population.

Ongoing dietary transitions in the Solomon Islands has resulted in an over-reliance on commercially sourced foods, leading to food insecurity, and a subsequent rise in multiple forms of malnutrition. The aim of this study was to investigate the individual dietary diversity and food preferences of the adult population living in Auki, Solomon Islands. A cross-sectional study involving 133 adults was undertaken in the Auki district via an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Individual dietary diversity scores (DDS) were determined based on the results of a 24-h recall method. Overall mean DDS was 7.27 (range 2-12). Females and participants who lived outside the Auki town center had significantly higher dietary diversity scores. Low consumption of a variety of nutritious foods within food groups and high consumption of energy dense processed foods, indicates that diet quality is likely limited in some of this population. Participants desire for a diverse diet including local foods suggests that current dietary diversity status in this population may be influenced by food security rather than food preference.