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Pacific Islanders are being encouraged to get healthy and active through sport, with a 14 million AUD (13.5 million U.S. dollars) competitive grants program funded by Australian government agency AusAID.
The Pacific Sports Partnerships, managed by the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), will develop a range of sports including cricket, football, netball, rugby league and rugby union, according to an ASC statement released Friday.
"Sport is a wonderful driver for social inclusion and for development, which is why we are providing grants of up to $2.5 million per selected sport to help achieve development outcomes in the Pacific," said Australian Minister for Sport Kate Lundy.
"We all know that a sporty nation is a healthy nation. But, sport can offer so much more," she added.
The Pacific Sports Partnerships Program has been supported through Australia's aid program since 2010, and provides a range of benefits to Pacific communities, said Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs Matt Thistlethwaite.
"Sport promotes an active and healthy lifestyle and creates an avenue to increase the participation of people with disability in social and community life," said Thistlethwaite.
"There are an estimated 800,000 people with disability in the Pacific who face numerous barriers to accessing the same opportunities for social and economic wellbeing as others."
The next phase of the program will support the use of sport as a vehicle to help address non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, improve the lives of people with disability, and help to empower women and girls, he added.
About 270,000 people participated in Pacific Sports Partnerships activities in 2011-12, according to Lundy. Social and health benefits from the program have already been identified.
"Just one example of success is where 65 percent of women who participated in the Vanuatu Women's Island Cricket Pilot Project reported a reduction in blood pressure," Lundy said.
The grants are capped at 2.5 million AUD (24.2 million U.S. dollars) for four years for each sports partnership, and will be selected through a competitive grants process.
