The Healthy Islands through Sport (HITS) initiative is the result of the announcement made by the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, of an additional $1 million to expand its existing Australian Sports Outreach Program to help tackle non communicable disease in the Pacific.

In March 2012, the Australian Sports Commission in collaboration with AusAID, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) convened a ‘Healthy Islands through Sport’ forum in Brisbane, Australia. The forum brought together senior officials from Ministries of Health and Ministries responsible for Sport from 14 Pacific Island Countries (PIC) to discuss how sport could be used to tackle non communicable diseases such as obesity and diabetes in the Pacific.

The report summarises the proceedings at the forum, highlights some specific issues that emerged, and identifies the proposed follow-up actions. It also clearly outlines steps for the attending PIC Ministries to follow when requesting the assistance of the Australian Government.