NEWSPAGE 08 April
2011

(Photos: 4pr)

NEW ZEALAND: Exhibition showcases Niuean art work

(Photo: World Health Organisation)

SAMOA: Education is key to combating drug resistance in Samoa
Source: World Health Organisation Press Release

In Samoa, antimicrobials (or fuala’au tui) is perhaps the most frequently prescribed or used medication in modern medicine. They can cure disease by killing or destroying microorganisms (bacteria, virus, fungi, and some parasites) which may have prompted many to presume that it can cure almost any malady hence its indiscriminate use to treat a range of illnesses from severe infections right down to the common cold. Antimicrobials can be used to treat a wide variety of infections however they are to be applied only in the case of infections caused by microorganisms as they are ineffective against diseases caused by non-infections such as common headaches and stomach pains.

The public needs to be aware that there may be consequences when antimicrobials are used regularly without a prescription and without completing the prescribed course of treatment. Frequent use of the drugs without proper cause may result in the microorganisms resisting treatment causing an infection to spread rampantly to other parts of the body. Discovery of the antimicrobials is amongst the most important advances in medical treatment but its use and misuse over the past 70 years has led to an increase in the number and types of microorganisms resistant to antimicrobials. As a result more deaths, greater suffering and disability adding significantly to higher healthcare costs. This stage is known as Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), and making governments more aware of the problem and encouraging them to take measures to combat this threat is the main aim of this year’s World Health Day Thursday 7th April, 2011. Spearheaded by the World Health Organization the message conveyed by its Representative in Samoa Dr Baoping Yang is that “We need to act and be vigil in ensuring that our villages and our children have a safer future through the appropriate use or application of antimicrobials. WHO’s main goal for World Health Day is to save lives and protect health by keeping precious, life saving medicines effective and useful to combat diseases.”

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) or drug resistance is not a new problem but it is one that is becoming more dangerous and one that we as Samoans and Pacific Islanders need to be mindful of. One of the most common and threatening cases of drug resistance is the multi drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) which has caused at least 150,000 deaths in the Asia Pacific region annually. MDR-TB commonly develops in the course of the tuberculosis (mamapala) treatment and is most commonly due to either doctors giving inappropriate treatments; patients missing doses or failing to complete their treatment. In Samoa there has been only one recorded case of MDR-TB but the figures for tuberculosis is estimated at only 14 cases in 2010, 10 of whom have completed their full course of treatment this year with 4 cases remaining on treatment. There are no specific statistics relating to AMR in Samoa but Samoa’s Demographic Heath Survey (DHS) 2009 have some data relating to factors causing AMR. The survey revealed that in 45% of the cases when children had a fever, they were given antimicrobials that were already available at home. These figures have cause for alarm as it portrays the need to develop and implement policies and measures for our future and especially that of our children. Health experts at the recent Antimicrobial Resistance Summit 2011 in Sydney also warned of the rising resistance affecting treatment and called on all stakeholders to recognize “one of the greatest threats to human health today”.

AMR is a complex issue which thrives on many factors and in order to combat it, a national multi-sectoral approach is required. On World Health Day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) will be issuing a call for concerted action from key stakeholders, governments, the public and patients, practitioners and prescribers, pharmacists to halt the spread of antimicrobial resistance. WHO has also developed policy package for the governments to take on board and they are basically about ensuring that there are processes, procedures, monitoring systems and surveillance to combat the spread of antimicrobial resistance. The Global Strategy for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance released by the World Health Organisation in 2001 is another support tool to be used in tackling the issue with recommendations that countries can customize for their own use.

There is a general lack of awareness amongst the Samoan people about the consequences of AMR - the more resistant micro-organisms become the higher the costs associated with treatment - more expensive medicines, treatments must be used. Thus the longer duration of the illness and treatments, increases health costs and the financial burden to families and societies increase as well. It could lead to the derailment of the progress towards achieving the health related targets of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Education therefore is essential in combating Antimicrobial resistance and they need to be relayed to the villages and communities to ensure that the medicines and treatments are effective for the future of our children.

“Antimicrobial resistance is a real public health problem and it is emerging locally, regionally and globally. We have to do much more about it - both in the World Health Organization (WHO) and also in the Pacific Island Countries,” says Dr Baoping Yang, WHO Representative in Samoa. “This is the start of a process; we can and have to raise awareness and education among policy-makers and the public, and follow up with strategies developed,” Dr Yang says. As the WHO slogan goes: “No action today no cure for tomorrow.”
 

(Photo: J. Kneubuhl)

AMERICAN SAMOA: SSI contributes matai statue to ASCC campus
Source: American Samoa Community College Press Release

Onlookers viewing a new piece of art on the American Samoa Community College (ASCC) campus have expressed reactions such as “absolutely stunning”, “beautiful and amazing”, and “very real, life-like, and handsome”. ASCC personnel have applied these accolades and more to an eight foot tall statue of the College’s Matai mascot recently installed in a space once used as a planter on the first floor of the Administration Building.

The ASCC Samoan Studies Institute (SSI) has contributed the work by its artist-in-residence Patrick Mafoe to the rest of the College. “The idea goes back several years, when President Dr. Seth Galea’i asked us if we had any ideas to fill that particular space,” recalled SSI Director Okenaisa Fauolo-Manila. “Just last year, we decided that a statue of the ASCC Matai mascot would be most appropriate, and the project has been ongoing ever since.” Mafoe estimated that the piece took him about three and a half months to finish from his worksite at home. “Our division did not have a big enough space for me to work on this piece here on campus,” he explained, “so I worked on it by myself in the evenings at my house. Plus, I originally wanted to make the statue 13 feet tall, but realized that this would cause installation problems.” Mafoe eventually settled on the more manageable dimensions of eight feet in height and three feet in width.

Instead of using bronze as found in typical statues, Mafoe discovered the more practical advantages of creating the piece using fiberglass. “When I studied in China as a visiting artist, I talked with many others in my field about how to use materials accessible to us. Fiberglass can not only stand the weather here better, but it also lasts for a long time and wasn’t so hard to find locally.” Mafoe’s director fully supported his choice of materials, as well as his decision not to color the statue. “Fiberglass gave the piece much more salient details,” said Fauolo-Manila. “As for the color, keeping it while will make it far easier to maintain, versus the more expensive and time-consuming refurbishing that colored sculptures require.”

The choice of the ASCC Matai mascot as the subject of the statue, as well as its enlarged dimensions, means that the piece emanates a dramatic cultural presence. “It expresses who we are, what we are, where we’re from, and how it’s only here where you’ll find what a Samoan is,” explained Mafoe, who refers to the statue simply as “The Chief”. “It is who we are -Samoans”, said Fauolo-Manila, who calls the statue Anava a le Kolisi Tuufaatasi o Amerika Samoa - Matai. The College’s Dean of Academic Affairs Dr. Irene Helsham recalled how ASCC originally adopted the Matai as its mascot in the 1980s. “A previous Student Government Association and the student body at the time made the decision,” she said, “and it makes me proud to see our mascot made the subject of an amazing piece of art. I’m also proud that the artist, Patrick Mafoe, is an ASCC alumnus.”

After its recent installation, the statue continues to create a stir on the ASCC campus, with numerous staff and students already having posted photos and descriptions of it on their Facebook and MySpace pages. Others perceive that the work’s power extends beyond its local cultural context. “It brings to mind the statuettes of worshippers from the Sumerian Civilization with its solemn stare and presence,” marveled Regina Meredith of the ASCC Art Department. For Fauolo-Manila, the statue simply represents “a goodwill endeavor to contribute to the overall aesthetic, cultural and historical perception embodied in the College.”

With a project of such magnatude now behind him, Mafoe will next apply his talents to the proposed Leone Healing Garden. “It’s a project to remember and honor all our loved ones lost in the 2009 Tsunami,” he explained.

Photo Caption: This new statue of the ASCC Matai mascot, which measures eight feet in height
and three feet in width, is a gift from the Samoan Studies Institute. Their artist-in-residence Patrick Mafoe worked for more than three months create the statue from fiberglass.

COOK ISLANDS: Old plan for new building re-visited
Source: Cook Islands Herald

The Ministry for Marine Resources is taking a fresh look at a 2005 proposal for a proposed new multi-purpose building with innovative features, on the Avatiu waterfront to serve as a new headquarters.

The Ministry needs new office space given upcoming developments and the inadequacy of its current premises. The Ministry is currently occupying an old government house which also formerly housed CITV, Radio Cook Islands and the two weekly newspapers.

It is understood the cost of construction 11 years on is in the region of $2.4 million. The Herald reported on the 2005 proposal. Back in 2005 the estimated cost was $1.6 million. However, if access was installed for the disabled this would have added another $200,000 to the cost. While it was unlikely any disabled person would need to go beyond the public counter on the ground floor, government as an equal opportunity employer, needed to bear in mind future employees may be disabled.

In the 2005 plan drawn up by Designer/Architect Romani Katoa, the features included large floor to ceiling windows to allow for plenty of natural light, an internal waterfall to capture and spread light internally, a wall consisting of a large aquarium for the public to view local lagoon fish life, an information/education room for the public and specially designed metal louvers on the outside to help keep the building cool in the hot months.

Solar panels could be fitted to the building to provide up to 50% of the power for the building. The ground floor could be leased out to private enterprise to generate an income to help recover the costs of construction and maintain the premises.

The building did not proceed in 2005 although the cost was affordable.
 

(Photo: Secretariat of the Pacific Community)

NEW CALEDONIA: Pacific transport ministers endorse transport services framework
Source: Secretariat of the Pacific Community Press Release

A milestone for the region’s transport sector was achieved when Pacific transport ministers endorsed the Framework for Action on Transport Services (FATS) at in their meeting this week.

The transport ministers’ meeting was one segment of the Inaugural Regional Meeting of Ministers for Energy, ICT and Transport that was organised by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and held at its headquarters in Noumea, New Caledonia from 4 - 8 April 2011.

The framework aims to enhance the social and economic well-being of people in the Pacific by supporting the efforts of Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs) to work towards ensuring that all their people, at all times, have access to regular, safe and affordable air and sea transport services.

FATS was formulated in response to calls from Pacific Island Forum Leaders for improved coordination and delivery of safe, secure and competitive regional transport services. This was clearly articulated in the 2004 Forum Principles on Regional Transport Services. The framework is also supported by the Pacific Plan, which calls for a more coordinated approach to dealing with regional transport services in order to enhance economies of scale and effectiveness. And in May 2009, at their ministerial meeting in Nuku‘alofa, Tonga, Pacific transport ministers recognised that internationally compliant transport services are imperative for economic growth and human development.

SPC’s Economic Development Division coordinated the development of FATS through a series of technical consultation and regional meetings involving representatives from PICT governments, development partners, regional and national airlines/maritime companies, non-state actors and the private sector.

The transport ministers’ meeting also noted that the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) intends to establish an MOU with SPC. An intergovernmental organisation of a consultative and technical nature, IHO comprises over 80 member states represented by their national hydrographic offices. The MOU will provide a platform for active liaison and cooperation between IHO and SPC to ensure the efficient and effective development and coordination of hydrographic and nautical charting programmes.

The recommendations will be reflected in the ministerial communiqué which will be signed today.
 

(Photos: New Zealand Defence Force)

WORLDWIDE: HMNZS Canterbury in her element
Source: New Zealand Defence Force Press Release

HMNZS CANTERBURY and the embarked NZ Defence Force personnel are in Noumea on the way to the Pacific Partnership humanitarian aid and disaster relief (HADR) mission. While in Noumea the ship will embark a French PUMA helicopter and crew, before heading to the small island of Niuatoputapu in the island nation of Tonga.

HMNZS CANTERBURY will serve as a primary platform for the medical, dental, veterinary and engineering services to be provided ashore.

Commanding Officer of HMNZS CANTERBURY, Commander Jim Gilmour, said that CANTERBURY’s capabilities are exactly what are needed for Pacific Partnership.

“CANTERBURY is very suited to this operation because she has amphibious sea-lift capabilities which allow us to get vehicles and personnel ashore where there is no port facility available. These capabilities have already been tested at Niuatoputapu in the aftermath of the Samoan tsunami in 2009.”

“The opportunity to be a part of the Tonga and Vanuatu phases of this exercise allow us to work in co-operation with partner nations and become more efficient in our HADR response, both throughout the Pacific and at home in New Zealand.”

Pacific Partnership is a dedicated HADR mission carried out with partner nations throughout the Pacific. The exercise aims to reinforce alliances, improve cooperation and interoperability and to deliver civil aid and disaster relief. This year New Zealand’s contribution will focus on the nations of Tonga and Vanuatu, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade supporting the development work with approximately $500,000 of funding from the New Zealand Aid Programme.

This is the first time the NZDF has been involved in Pacific Partnership on such a large scale, with the participation of HMNZS CANTERBURY, her ship’s company and up to 150 NZ Defence personnel. Other nations and personnel participating in this years exercise include a mix of about 600 military, interagency and non-governmental organisational medical professionals and engineers hailing from the US, Australia, Canada, France, Singapore and Spain.

Photo Captions:

Photo 1 - Commander Jim Gilmour (left), working on the bridge of HMNZS CANTERBURY on her way to Noumea.

Photo 2 - HMNZS Canterbury says goodbye to Auckland, as she departs Devonport Navy Base en route to Noumea.