Health research in the Pacific.

The Pacific Island countries are geographically scattered, with contrasting environmental, social, and political systems, and in varying stages of economic development, but all are going through a rapid epidemiological transition. Processes that took place over thousands of years in Western countries have been very much compacted in time in the Pacific. These processes have produced major changes in environment and lifestyle, which have produced epidemics of non-communicable disease. While it is important to consider non-communicable diseases as a group, it is also important to conduct research into their specific causes. There has been a great deal of research into cardiovascular disease and diabetes in the Pacific, but it is only recently that the importance of cancer as a major source of mortality and morbidity in the Pacific has been recognised, even though it appears to carry a similar burden of morbidity and mortality. It is therefore important that research into the causes and control of cancer in the Pacific is conducted. However, it is also crucially important that this research both learns from the successes and avoids the mistakes of the past. In particular, it is crucial that cancer research in the Pacific is not another opportunity for "research colonialism," but instead provides opportunities for Pacific-training of Pacific health researchers and the conduct of Pacific-led research.