Vanuatu is a lower-middle-income South Pacific Ocean archipelago between Hawaii and Australia, comprising more than 80 islands and extending over 800 miles. About two-thirds of the islands are inhabited, with over half of the population of 318,007 living on the three largest islands. The islands are primarily mountainous, with less than 2% arable land, and several islands are home to active volcanoes. There is a five-month cyclone season, with occasional earthquakes and tsunamis. Economically, the country relies on subsistence agriculture and tourism. 

Hunger and Nutrition in Vanuatu

Probably because of its small size, Vanuatu is not ranked in the comparative country report, the Global Hunger Index. The Global Nutrition Report has secured information on Vanuatu’s progress in meeting global nutrition targets; however, some of the data is over a decade old (2013-2020). At that last report, the country was “on course” only for three metrics: childhood overweight, exclusive breastfeeding and childhood wasting. Childhood stunting, anemia of women of childbearing age and low birth weight showed no progress or were worsening, with the islands “off course” for the remaining seven global nutrition indicators. 

Food Security

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s most recent Food Security Profile for Vanuatu is also based on data from 2020 or earlier and is consistent with the Global Nutrition Report. One in 10 Ni Vanuatu (Vanuatu’s Indigenous people) were described as undernourished, with 20.9% experiencing a moderate level of food insecurity, and severe levels of food insecurity suffered by an additional 2.4%. In other words, almost a quarter of Vanuatu’s population was reported as food insecure. On a positive note, the average Ni-Vanuatu is reported to consume more than the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables recommended by the World Health Organization. 

More recently, in October-November 2024, the World Food Programme telephone surveyed 1,306 Vanuatu households (82% of them were rural households). This was after a series of severe, damaging cyclones in 2023 that had disrupted the supply chain and impacted agricultural production and economic activity. The rural communities, which rely on subsistence agriculture, experienced a negative impact on consumption and nutrition. In October, although 67% of the households noted acceptable food consumption patterns, this was a 30% decline from the previous year. A 7.3 magnitude earthquake, subsequent to the survey, in December 2024, could only have exacerbated food insecurity. The source of food varied among the provinces: 84% of Malampa Province respondents reported acquiring food through their own production, while 69% of Shefa Province respondents purchased their food from markets or supermarkets. 

Subsistence agriculture has its limits, however. In March 2024, Prime Minister Chariot Salwai reported to the National Economic and Investment Forum that “Vanuatu imports nearly half of its food, despite 70% of the population residing in rural areas capable of producing organic products for domestic consumption.” 

Public Health Consequences

A substantial reliance on food imports can have a negative public health effect when it facilitates an increase in the consumption of ultra-processed foods. This can lead to an increase in noncommunicable diseases. A recent study of the impact of trade agreements on food systems revealed the relationship between Vanuatu’s World Trade Organization agreements and obligations and the country’s food environment, where an increase was seen in both healthy and less healthy imports. 

It was also found that an increase in foreign direct investment was accompanied by an increase in the local production and consumption of processed and ultra-processed foods by foreign-owned companies involved in food manufacturing, processing and production. 

Policy Responses to Hunger in Vanuatu

Such changes in the food environment can be addressed and controlled. This demands a balance of priorities among economic and trade interests and public health interests in order to strengthen the “nutrition policy space.” And this balance calls for multisectoral cooperation that includes public health actors in the policymaking process. Vanuatu recognized this in its National Nutrition Policy & Strategic Plan 2016-2020, with one of its guiding principles being a commitment to multisectoral approaches. 

This was followed by the Vanuatu Food Safety, Security & Nutrition Policy, 2022-2030, which recognizes and addresses the role of trade, economic and environmental policies on health and the food and nutrition “landscape.”

– Staff Reports
Photo: Wikimedia Commons