THE dean of the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Professor Ian Rouse, has challenged students of the Fiji Nursing School to continue to choose health.
He made the comment at the launch of the pilot 5s program yesterday.
The 5s program - or good housekeeping -involves the principle of waste elimination through workplace organisation is derived from the Japanese words seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke, they translate into sort, set in order, clean, standardise and sustain.
"We want to help all people to live longer and have more productive lives," Prof Rouse said.
"We are personally committed to choose health and we need to encourage all people in Fiji and across the blue continent to choose health," he said.
The 5s program allows for a safe, healthy and clean workplace organisation.
It is believed that a lack of good housekeeping or 5s accounts for 80 per cent of accidents and complaints in a home or organisation.
"I am sure there will be a lot of good times ahead of us as we work together to help transform the school into a special environment for all aspects of learning," Prof Rouse said.
"We are facing an unprecedented challenge of ill-health right across the Pacific Islands; a challenge that is seeing men and women, mothers and fathers dying in their 30s and 40s.
"Unfortunately, like many parts of the world, the last few decades have seen a significant transition in the Pacific Islands to an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, respiratory illness and poor mental health."
The 5s program is expected to create higher productivity in people and in the school.