The island of Fiji will soon have its own mental health facility to combat a reported rise in depression and anxiety in the Pacific.

In an interview last week Fiji Health Minister Dr Neil Sharma said mental health services were drastically lacking in the region. Now an official announcement has been made, locking in plans for the first mental health facility to be built on Fiji.

“There's a lot more depression and anxiety in the communities now with all the changes taking place, climate change and NCDs and premature deaths and mobility... a lot of young people are finding it difficult to cope with circumstances, the modern way of living and sort of losing hope.”

Dr Sharma says a post-graduate program has also been launched to train mental health professionals in Fiji: “This year we have seven registrars from Fiji and we have three registrars from the region... the purpose is to train our people, our nurses, our doctors and our paramedical people to be able to recognise mental illness at a much earlier stage to be able to intervene and be able to bring quality of life to our people in the region."

Health Ministers across jurisdictions in the region have approved the planning for the new facility, which is set to service dozens of tiny nearby island communities.