Introduction by Croakey: Pacific Island leaders delivered strong messages for collective and timely action on the climate crisis at the 79th United Nations General Assembly session which closed this week.
They “underscored a dire reality” – climate resilience and sustainable development is of critical importance for everyone on the planet, but their countries and peoples will likely suffer the most.
Prime Ministers of Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tuvalu and Tonga emphasised the UN’s role “as a platform for driving unified, decisive action to mitigate” the climate threat, and called on the international community for financial support.
Dr Maina Talia, Tuvalu’s Climate Minister, told Guardian Australia that the Federal Government’s decision last week to approve three coal mine expansions undermines the Australian case to co-host the 2026 UN Climate Summit (COP31) with island nations.
“This is a matter of survival for my country of Tuvalu and for other nations in the Pacific. Australia calls itself a member of the Pacific family but this recent decision puts this statement in question,” Talia said.
Similarly, the Falepili Union between Australia and Tuvalu has drawn criticism from Talua Nivaga, co-founder of Tuvaluan youth climate group Fulifafou, for not going far enough to solve the climate crisis in Tuvalu.
The treaty, which came into force on 28 August 2024, offers up to 280 Tuvaluans — 2.5 percent of the population — permanent residency in Australia each year.
Nivaga told the ABC this week that the solution to rising tides and climate-change related destruction “is that Australia commits to transitioning from the use of fossil fuels to clean energy. There is not even one line or even a word inside the treaty [about reducing emissions].”
Meanwhile, the Pacific Islands experience a range of other health challenges, as highlighted below by Isabelle Zhu-Maguire, PhD candidate at the School of Regulation and Governance within the Australian National University.
Isabelle Zhu-Maguire writes:
The Pacific Islands region faces some of the most significantly diverse health challenges in the world, from isolation to infrastructure needs, and the ever-present impacts of climate change.
Perpetuating these health changes is the often-unstable nature of politics on some Pacific Islands where healthcare has become entangled with geopolitical competition.
Despite this, the Pacific remains ever strong, often harnessing traditional and community knowledge to spearhead solutions to these complex health challenges – fighting and “not drowning”.
Following is a summary of some of the health challenges and resolutions faced by the region last month.
Drug shortages
The availability of essential medication is a common issue faced by many Pacific Islands.
At the beginning of September, the Solomon Islands Operating Theatre at the National Referral Hospital – the country’s major hospital – went into “emergency mode” due to a shortage of consumables and anaesthetic drugs used for operating patients.
A statement from the hospital said that within this “emergency mode” it would temporarily “only deal with emergency, caesarean births and life-threatening cases, until there is enough medication available”.
To remedy this shortage, the hospital stated that it was working with donors such as the Australian Government and some local pharmacies to procure more medicine.
This particular shortage was due to a batch of Australian medical supplies, valued at SBD$9.1 million, being partially held up in processing at one the Solomon Islands’ wharf facilities.
The issue of drug shortages came up again when Dr Alec Ekeroma, Samoa’s Director-General of Health, urged all attendees of October’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to bring their own medication.
This was both in an effort to keep the costs of running the meeting lower and with the doubt that the nation would have enough medication for all attendees.
Healthcare workers
To help ease the burden on the Vanuatu healthcare system, Vanuatu has signed an agreement with the Solomon Islands who will send a cohort of nurses and doctors.
This agreement was signed on 6 September 2024 on the sidelines of the 8th Asia Pacific Parliamentarian Forum on Global Health and comes as a response to large numbers of healthcare vacancies due to Vanuatu’s only nursing college no longer being operational.
A Radio New Zealand update on Pacific news said, “the memorandum of understanding comes as Vanuatu’s health sector faces significant gaps, including 400 nurse vacancies and a shortage of 50 doctors, exacerbated by the deregistration of the country’s nursing college”.
Mental health
Pasifika Medical Association – an Aotearoa/New Zealand based organisation – has partnered with the Australian Government to improve mental health and wellbeing in Tonga and Vanuatu via their new ‘Ngalu Fānifo initiative’.
The project follows an emergency response mental health program undertaken by the Pasifika Medical Association in Tonga after the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption and tsunami, in December 2022, and after Cyclones Kevin and Judy in Vanuatu, in March 2023.
Community healthcare providers including local nurses will be upskilled in mental health and wellbeing. Other community groups such as church and school groups will also be engaged in this project.
Debbie Sorensen, Pasifika Medical Association’s Chief Executive, said “the response from community through to ministerial level has been incredibly positive, stressing the need for mental health and wellbeing support that is family-centred, community-led and culturally-anchored.
“PMA will work in collaboration with health ministries, health providers, and community and faith-based NGOs (non-government organisations) in Tonga and Vanuatu, to co-design training pathways, and support the implementation of new, sustainable mental health models of care.”
Medicaid in the Pacific
The United States’ House of Representatives and Senate has approved a US$27.1 million boost for the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Medicaid program. This will ensure that the CNMI – an unincorporated territory of the United States – starts the fiscal year with a debt-free Medicaid program.
Gregorio Sablan, CNMI delegate, said, “our Medicaid program has been under severe financial pressure, because so many people became eligible for this form of federal health insurance during the pandemic, and during the on-going economic downturn in our islands.
“Medicaid’s inability to pay its bills has put our hospital at risk and forced health providers to turn away patients. [This] action, appropriating an additional $27.1 million, will put Medicaid finances back on track, so those in need of health services are cared for.”
About the author
Isabelle Zhu-Maguire is a PhD candidate at the School of Regulation and Governance within the Australian National University. Her thesis investigates the ways in which Australia listens and responds to the climate advocacy of Pacific Island Nations.
She has conducted extensive research into the experiences of women in Afghanistan and their perspectives and realities living through conflict, oppression, and climate change.
Isabelle has also been advocate for greater youth inclusion within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
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