Project Kakana

Creating a mobile application for a healthier Fiji

About the Project

Creating a mobile app for a healthier Fiji (codenamed Project Kakana) is a research grant project funded under The University of the South Pacific’s Strategic Research Theme (SRT) grant. A team from The University of the South Pacific (USP) and Fiji’s National Food and Nutrition Centre (NFNC) worked collaboratively on this research project. Led by Dr. Irene Yee Chief, an Instructional Designer at the Centre for Flexible Learning (CFL), USP, the team successfully designed and developed the My Kana mobile app to promote healthy eating habits.

The My Kana mobile app was officially launched by Honourable Ms Rosy Akbar, Fiji's Minister for Health and Medical Services, during the inaugural National Nutrition Symposium at Suva’s Holiday Inn, Fiji on 16 August, 2017.

Objectives

The high rate of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in Fiji and many Pacific Islands is attributed mainly due to poor eating habits and lifestyle. The main objective of this project is to contribute to healthy eating habits of the people of Fiji.

To achieve this objective, this project intends to:

Develop a mobile app to promote healthy eating habits
Make a mobile app usable without requiring Internet connection
Make a mobile app accessible to people in remote areas
Create awareness on eating a proper and balanced diet
Enable the general public to self-regulate and become conscious of what they eat

Non Communicable Disease in Fiji

Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as Ischemic Heart Disease, Diabetes Mellitus and Cerebrovascular Diseases continue to be the leading cause of pre-mature mortality in Fiji. The four risk factors that account for the most disease burden in the country are Smoking, poor Nutrition choices (consumption of High fat, sugar and salt), Alcohol abuse and Physical inactivity. The second NCD STEPS Risk Factor study (2012) revealed that the underlying risk factors and causes for these diseases have greatly increased from 2002 to 2011. There has been an increase in mean BMI by 1.1kg/m². Proportion of the population that are overweight increased from 23.6% to 32.1% according to the NCD STEPS Survey. The study also showed an increase of blood pressure from 24.2% to 31%, similarly raised fasting blood glucose rose from 19.6% to 29.6%.

In addition to these risk factors, Fiji also has alarming percentages for Anaemia at 63% for children under 5 years in the last National Nutrition Survey (NNS) in 2014 an increase of 14.2% in the last 10 years. Anaemia in the adult population has increased from 28.2% in 2004 NNS to 40.1% in 2014.

Fiji is not the only Pacific Island Country to face this NCD crisis. Marshall Islands and Tuvalu have about 73% of deaths caused by NCD, after Fiji at 80%, closely followed by Samoa and Vanuatu at 70%. Dietary risk factors pose the greatest risk factor for NCDs in the Pacific.

References

The World Bank (2016), Health and Non-Communicable Diseases, Pacific Possible
NFNC (2017), 2014 – 2015 National Nutrition Survey – Media Brief
Ministry of Health and Medical Services (2014), Non-Communicable Diseases Strategic Plan 2015 – 2019, FHSSP, Suva.
National Strategic Plan 2016 – 2020

Existing Health and Nutrition Apps

There are many apps available to monitor diet/calorie intake. Most existing apps target western foods and require users to input weights of the food they consume. They also require users to understand nutritional jargons like calories in order to be used effectively. However, there is no app for Pacific foods, particularly traditional and local foods. This makes most of the already existing apps somewhat inadequate for users in Fiji and other South Pacific Island countries. All of the existing apps also required users to have an Internet connection so that they could search for foods in the online foods database.

This project uses the ubiquitous nature of mobile phones to promote healthy diets for Fijians. Instead of focusing on calories and food weights, the My Kana app was designed to allow users to focus on eating balanced meals and correct portion sizes. By developing healthy eating habits, the intention is for people to control their portion sizes (calorie intake) and monitor what they consume.

Project Timeline

In 2016, a call for proposals was made by USP's Research Office for research projects to be funded under USP's SRT grant.
A team from CFL, led by Dr. Irene Chief put in a proposal for a project to be funded under the SRT grant. NFNC was approached to be a partner in the project and provide health and nutritional expertise for the project.
On 29 August, 2016, the Research Office launched the 2016 SRT projects, with Creating a mobile app for a healthier Fiji selected as one of the projects funded.
On 28 July, 2017, a preview version of the My Kana app was released.
On 5 August, 2017, a live demo of My Kana app was given to participants of the Nutrition and Food Security workshop for Arya Mahila Mandal, held at SSM Primary School, Suva, Fiji
On 16 August, 2017, My Kana app was officially launched by Fiji's Minister of Health and Medical Services, Honorable Ms Rosy Akbar.
On 17 August, 2017, a Q & A session on the My Kana app is held during the inaugural National Nutrition Symposium. Participants at the symposium were given a hands on opportunity to download and use the apps