Health Transition and Globalization in the Pacific: Vestiges of Colonialism?

This paper disaggregates the various transitions that led to the so-called health transition in the Pacific. It challenges the notion of unified health transition and looks at changes that shaped the health of Pacificans. It examines the velocity (speed and direction) and the framework with which contemporary discussions of health transition in the Pacific have taken place. This is an effort to look at how health transition is more about power imbalance than about morbidity and mortality. We argue, first, that changes in the health of Pacificans are about power imbalances brought about by globalization, imperialism, and colonialism. We also describe the multiple transitions that need to be taken into account in understanding the health changes among Pacificans. In the end, we suggest a range of alternate ways of viewing the processes of change in the Pacific.