- No sign yet
We found no new healthy-eating law, scheme or budget line from this government 910. The one NCD-named grant, SAT$200,000 a year for the NCD Clinic, has no money in 2026/27 910. The government said free healthy school lunches would start from July 2026, but we found no line for them in the 2026/27 Estimates 79.
Cuts both ways Partly funded OverdueDetails and sources
- Promised
- FAST launched its manifesto at the Apita o Pisaga Hall in Salelologa, Savaiʻi, on Saturday 12 July 2025 2. Talamua reported a ten-point plan that included "Family Health" 49. Talamua also reported that the manifesto included "providing healthy living and eating habits" to fight NCDs among young people 1. The Talamua report gave no amount, plan or date for this 1. On 28 August 2025, the day before polling day, the Samoa Observer reported that FAST also promised school lunches 350. The Observer report did not link the lunches to NCDs 3. We could not find the full 2025 manifesto text, so the exact wording is unconfirmed.
- What happened
- On 6 November 2025, the government told a UN summit in Doha that Samoa would have free healthy school lunches "from July 2026" 7. On 24 December 2025, Talamua reported on a meeting Prime Minister Laʻauli held with teachers at Vaimauga College the day before 6. The Talamua report said the FAST government is looking to continue healthy food and lunches for students through the District Development Project 5. The report gave no amount or date 5. A government press release on 12 February 2026 quoted Laʻauli saying the Million Tala Project would build kitchens and dining areas for all schools 56. Parents and school committees would then cook breakfast and lunch 8. We searched the 2026/27 Approved Estimates and found no school lunch or school feeding line 9. The SAT$200,000 NCD Clinic grant was in the 2024/25 and 2025/26 budgets 1110. The 2026/27 Approved Estimates give it nothing 9. The Ministry of Health's health promotion output (National Health Wellness and Family Health Services) rose from SAT$2,619,898 in 2024/25 to SAT$3,707,758 in 2025/26 14. The output is SAT$3,690,305 in 2026/27 12. Its target for villages in the PEN Faʻa-Samoa health promotion programme falls from 200 in 2025/26 to 20 in 2026/27 13. The 2025/26 budget raised the Sports Development Fund from SAT$2.5 million to SAT$6 million 15. The 2025/26 Budget Address called sport a platform for healthy lifestyle promotion 16. The 2026/27 budget kept the fund at SAT$6 million 48. The 2026/27 Budget Address also proposes a 3 percent rise in tobacco excise duties from 1 January 2027, set out as a revenue measure 17. On 30 June 2026, Talamua reported that the Ministry of Health would give special lessons in schools on food safety and healthy eating for World Food Safety Day 21. On 10 August 2026, the Samoa Observer reported that the second Pathway for the Development of Samoa (PDS2) aims to cut NCD prevalence by 5 per cent 20. The Ministry of Health website still lists the National Non-Communicable Disease Control Policy 2018–2023 (Revised) 22. In March 2023, Talamua reported that Laʻauli told Parliament the healthy-living group SPAGHL was a programme "he as Speaker then initiated and implemented in 2008" 23. Parliament's list shows him as Speaker from 2011 to 2016 24. RNZ reports that he has served as both Speaker and Deputy Speaker 59. We could not confirm which post he held in 2008, so the year or the post given in the 2023 report is unconfirmed 2459. The 2023 Talamua report also said the group was shut down when its budget was pulled, after its school visits led to school closures and friction 25.
- Impact on families
- In May 2025, the World Bank reported that 12 of 34 districts had screened at least 70 percent of adults for high blood pressure and diabetes 45. A World Bank report of 16 February 2026 gives preliminary results for the year to June 2025: 16 of 25 districts met screening targets 33. A World Bank restructuring paper of June 2026 says screening runs in 26 of 34 rural districts, with 16 meeting targets 31. The two reports count the 16 districts against different totals, 25 and 34 3331. The February 2026 report rates progress towards the programme's goal as moderately unsatisfactory 34. That report also says 92 percent of students were screened in 18 new primary schools 47. By June 2025, the programme had reached 80 primary schools with healthy eating and exercise work 30. The Samoa Bureau of Statistics finished checking the July 2024 to June 2025 results in April 2026 32. The June 2026 restructuring cuts the programme's district target from 34 to 25 35. Samoa's Ministry of Finance asked for the restructuring in a letter dated 8 September 2025 28. Laʻauli was sworn in as Prime Minister eight days later, on 16 September 2025 29. A World Food Programme study published on 17 September 2025 found that over 40% of households cannot afford a nutritious diet 36. In May 2026, a parent told the Samoa Observer that children eat more processed snacks and sugary drinks "because they are cheaper" 37. The International Diabetes Federation estimates 28,200 adults aged 20 to 79 had diabetes in 2024, up from 6,600 in 2011 43. During medicine shortages in July 2026, a father of six told ABC Pacific that prescriptions costing SAT$5 at the hospital pharmacy cost more than SAT$200 at private pharmacies 38. The Health Minister told ABC Pacific the shortages were the result of the previous government's failure to settle debts with overseas suppliers 39. This is the Minister's account; the ABC report carries no reply from members of the previous government, and we found none 39. ABC Pacific reported on 24 July 2026 that around half of those debts had been settled 57. On 20 July 2026, the Samoa Observer, citing the government's Savali newspaper, reported the Minister saying payments for orders placed between 2020 and 2025 had been settled, so the two reports differ 58. The Health Minister also told ABC Pacific that 104 medicines had become scarce in the government's first nine months, and 9 were still scarce 40. The same Samoa Observer report of 20 July 2026 quoted Savali as saying that, in the Minister's view, the SAT$183 million health budget for 2026/27 is not enough for future medicine orders 41.
- Cost
- We found no cost for this promise published by FAST or the government. On 13 July 2025, a Samoa Observer editorial said FAST had not set out how it would pay for its promises 4. On 28 August 2025, the Samoa Observer estimated that FAST's school lunches and school upgrades "would add tens of millions", with no exact figure 51. The NCD Clinic grant was SAT$200,000 a year in 2024/25 and 2025/26, and nothing in 2026/27 11109. By 31 March 2026, SAT$114,884,122 had been paid out of the Ministry of Health's SAT$170,675,414 budget for 2025/26 44. The quarterly report gives no figure for single grants 44. The Kidney Foundation, which runs dialysis, got SAT$12,000,000 in 2025/26 and SAT$11,704,897 in 2026/27 1918.
- Verdict for families
- Cuts both ways
- Can it be done?
- Doable
- Long term
- Too early to tell
- Who deserves the credit
-
Shared credit
This government added a school lunch plan with no budget line we found, SAT$3.5 million more for the existing Sports Development Fund, a higher health promotion output in its first budget of 6 October 2025, a proposed tobacco excise rise and a PDS2 target 781552141720. The government inherited the NCD Clinic grant, which it has now cut to nothing, and the SAT$1 million district grants that the lunch plan would use 1195356. Village screening and school healthy-eating work come from a World Bank programme approved on 5 December 2019 and co-funded by Australia and New Zealand, with results to June 2025, before this government 262732.
- Who gains
- So far the gains come from partner-funded work begun before this government: by June 2025, 16 districts met adult screening targets and 80 primary schools had healthy-eating work 3130.
- Who pays
- Low-income families pay most: over 40% of households cannot afford a nutritious diet, parents are asked to cook school meals with no budget line we could find, and future budgets carry dialysis costs, with SAT$11,704,897 for the Kidney Foundation in 2026/27 368918.
- Assessment
- Prevention that reaches schools and villages could help many families at low cost. Finance Minister Mulipola Anarosa Molioʻo told Parliament in March 2023 that food is the root cause of kidney failure 5542. In 13 months, though, the only NCD-named grant was cut and the health promotion village target fell from 200 to 20 913. The school lunch plan has no line in the budget and asks parents and school committees to cook, which puts the work on families 98. Advice also does little for the more than 40% of households who cannot afford a nutritious diet 36. The cost is small and the policy is doable, but so far the village and school results come from a partner-funded programme, with SAT$5,932,671 in donor cash in 2026/27 4626. The World Bank says its own grant pays only a small part of the recurrent costs of the government's NCD programme 54.
Sources (59)
- FAST Party Manifesto Centres on the Family Unit
- FAST Party Manifesto Centres on the Family Unit
- What the three major parties are promising Samoa
- More promises, FAST and its manifesto
- PM tells teachers to resign if they’re involved in illegal drugs
- PM tells teachers to resign if they’re involved in illegal drugs
- Samoa Reaffirms Commitment to Social Justice, Inclusion & Family-Centred Development at World Summit
- Government to Impose Strict Enforcement of Free Education for All Children of Samoa
- Approved Estimates of Receipts and Payments of the Government of Samoa for the Financial Year Ending 30th June 2027
- Approved Estimates of Receipts and Payments of the Government of Samoa for the Financial Year Ending 30th June 2026
- BUDGET ADDRESS 2024/2025
- Approved Estimates of Receipts and Payments of the Government of Samoa for the Financial Year Ending 30th June 2027
- Approved Estimates of Receipts and Payments of the Government of Samoa for the Financial Year Ending 30th June 2027
- Approved Estimates of Receipts and Payments of the Government of Samoa for the Financial Year Ending 30th June 2026
- Budget Address FY2025-2026
- Budget Address FY2025-2026
- Budget Address 2026/2027
- Budget Address 2026/2027
- Budget Address FY2025-2026
- Diabetes and cancer at centre of Samoa’s NCD target
- Health Promotes Food & Nutrition Awareness on World Food Safety Day
- Acts & Regulations – Ministry of Health
- MPs call to revive Parliament's Advocacy Group for Healthy Living
- History of the Parliament
- MPs call to revive Parliament's Advocacy Group for Healthy Living
- Restructuring Paper on a Proposed Program Restructuring of Samoa Health System Strengthening Program (RES01003)
- Restructuring Paper on a Proposed Program Restructuring of Samoa Health System Strengthening Program (RES01003)
- Samoa Health System Strengthening Program (Grant Number D527-WS): Amendment to the Financing Agreement
- Laaulialemalietoa Schmidt sworn in as Samoa’s 8th Prime Minister, third leader from Savai’i
- Restructuring Paper on a Proposed Program Restructuring of Samoa Health System Strengthening Program (RES01003)
- Restructuring Paper on a Proposed Program Restructuring of Samoa Health System Strengthening Program (RES01003)
- Restructuring Paper on a Proposed Program Restructuring of Samoa Health System Strengthening Program (RES01003)
- Samoa Health System Strengthening Program (P164382): Implementation Status & Results Report, Seq No 11
- Samoa Health System Strengthening Program (P164382): Implementation Status & Results Report, Seq No 11
- Restructuring Paper on a Proposed Program Restructuring of Samoa Health System Strengthening Program (RES01003)
- Cost of the Diet Analysis in Samoa, August 2025
- Rising costs, convenience behind unhealthy eating habits
- Samoa health system grapples with medicine supply
- Samoa health system grapples with medicine supply
- Samoa health system grapples with medicine supply
- Health Minister: Budget not enough for future medicine orders
- MPs call to revive Parliament's Advocacy Group for Healthy Living
- Diabetes and cancer at centre of Samoa’s NCD target
- Government of Samoa financial report for the 9 months ended 31st March 2026 (Quarter 3 FY2025/26)
- Transforming Health Care Access in the Pacific Islands with World Bank Support
- Approved Estimates of Receipts and Payments of the Government of Samoa for the Financial Year Ending 30th June 2027
- Samoa Health System Strengthening Program (P164382): Implementation Status & Results Report, Seq No 11
- Budget Address 2026/2027
- FAST Party Manifesto Centres on the Family Unit
- FAST Party Manifesto Centres on the Family Unit
- What the three major parties are promising Samoa
- Budget Address FY2025-2026
- MPs call to revive Parliament's Advocacy Group for Healthy Living
- Transforming Health Care Access in the Pacific Islands with World Bank Support
- MPs call to revive Parliament's Advocacy Group for Healthy Living
- Government to Impose Strict Enforcement of Free Education for All Children of Samoa
- Samoa health system grapples with medicine supply
- Health Minister: Budget not enough for future medicine orders
- Laaulialemalietoa Schmidt sworn in as Samoa’s 8th Prime Minister, third leader from Savai’i
Is it funded?
Partly funded
No line is named for this promise. The nearest is the Ministry of Health's health promotion output, National Health Wellness and Family Health Services: SAT$2,619,898 in 2024/25, SAT$3,707,758 in 2025/26 and SAT$3,690,305 in 2026/27 31. The NCD Clinic grant was SAT$200,000 in 2025/26 and has nothing in 2026/27 42. Partners add donor cash for the Health System Strengthening Program, funded by the World Bank, Australia and New Zealand: SAT$5,769,231 in 2025/26 and SAT$5,932,671 in 2026/27 5. We searched both years' Estimates for school lunch and school feeding lines and found none 24. By 31 March 2026, SAT$114,884,122 of the Ministry of Health's 2025/26 budget had been paid, with no figure for these lines, so the money paid out on them is unconfirmed 6.
Sources (6)
- Approved Estimates of Receipts and Payments of the Government of Samoa for the Financial Year Ending 30th June 2027
- Approved Estimates of Receipts and Payments of the Government of Samoa for the Financial Year Ending 30th June 2027
- Approved Estimates of Receipts and Payments of the Government of Samoa for the Financial Year Ending 30th June 2026
- Approved Estimates of Receipts and Payments of the Government of Samoa for the Financial Year Ending 30th June 2026
- Approved Estimates of Receipts and Payments of the Government of Samoa for the Financial Year Ending 30th June 2027
- Government of Samoa financial report for the 9 months ended 31st March 2026 (Quarter 3 FY2025/26)
Deadline (passed)
On 6 November 2025, the government told a UN summit that free healthy school lunches would start from July 2026 1. That date has passed, and we found no school lunch line in the 2026/27 Approved Estimates 2. The manifesto report set no date for the healthy-eating promise itself 3.
Sources (3)
- Samoa Reaffirms Commitment to Social Justice, Inclusion & Family-Centred Development at World Summit
- Approved Estimates of Receipts and Payments of the Government of Samoa for the Financial Year Ending 30th June 2027
- FAST Party Manifesto Centres on the Family Unit
What research says
Research is mixed
In Tonga, taxes on foods high in fat, salt and sugar were followed by a 41% average fall in imports of the taxed foods 1. The Tongan study is a preprint, posted on 9 May 2025 1. A 2023 study of six Pacific countries says there is little data on whether such taxes work 2. The 2023 study also notes that Samoa's tax on sugary drinks has stayed the same since 2000 3. Samoa's school food rules have been hard to enforce: compliance was 32% to 36% each year from 2014 to 2018 4. In 2023/24, the Ministry of Health put compliance at 41%, which it called low 5. A 2023 guide says Samoa's food label rules make a tax on salt easier to run than a tax on sugar 6. A nutritious school meal could cut the daily food cost for a child aged six to seven by up to 25% 7. A nutritious diet made only from local foods costs twice as much as one with imported foods 8. The same 2025 blog says school meal programmes designed with nutrition in mind can greatly cut the cost of a healthy diet for children 9.
Sources (9)
- Impact of Tongan taxes targeting foods high in fat, salt and sugar: Interrupted time series analyses
- Effectiveness of NCD-Related Fiscal Policies: Evidence from the Pacific
- Effectiveness of NCD-Related Fiscal Policies: Evidence from the Pacific
- Identifying opportunities to strengthen school food environments in the Pacific: a case study in Samoa
- Ministry of Health Annual Report FY2023/2024
- Scaling up food pricing policies in the Pacific: a guide to action
- Nourishing Samoa's future starts with affordable, nutritious diets
- Cost of the Diet Analysis in Samoa, August 2025
- Nourishing Samoa's future starts with affordable, nutritious diets
Cost and reach
The promise has no programme of its own, so it has no yearly cost or count of people reached. The related World Bank NCD programme now has about US$15.03 million in total financing 1. The programme's closing date has moved from 31 December 2025 to 31 December 2027 2. The health promotion output of SAT$3,690,305 in 2026/27 is ongoing Ministry work, not the cost of this promise 3.
Sources (3)
- Restructuring Paper on a Proposed Program Restructuring of Samoa Health System Strengthening Program (RES01003)
- Restructuring Paper on a Proposed Program Restructuring of Samoa Health System Strengthening Program (RES01003)
- Approved Estimates of Receipts and Payments of the Government of Samoa for the Financial Year Ending 30th June 2027
Helps: Children · Rural villages and Savaiʻi
Paid for by: Low-income families · Future budgets and debt
Folafolaga · https://folafolaga.pages.dev/promises/fast-health-ncd/ · Printed from the version last checked 23 October 2026. Every claim's source is listed on that page.