Page 16 - November 2021 IB FINAL

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Continued from page 13 and Population Health, Australian National University, Meru
Sheel listed her lessons from the pandemic at the recent
for the countries. Because, you know, we got a lot of money Pacific Update online symposium: border controls work, PACIFIC PUBLIC HEALTH
from partners to support the COVID response… And depend- mask use is practical and health systems can be easily over-
ing on how much countries spend on building their systems, whelmed. PRIORITY DURING COVID-19
then some of it will be long lasting, perhaps some not so long Sheel sees a need to monitor what she calls “events” re-
lasting,” he says. lated to vaccines, and suggests integrating information about
Improvements to laboratory testing also worked “really them into vaccination drives. She rattles off a list of policy
The Clinical Services Programme has worked closely with PICTs to
well.” Prior to the pandemic, only French Polynesia, Fiji, concerns: mixing and matching vaccines, viral variants, cold strengthen and improve capacity of Intensive and Critical Care, Radi-
Guam, New Caledonia, and Papua New Guinea could test for chain logistics, vaccine safety, boosters, and child vaccina- ology and Emergency Care by facilitate online trainings to clinicians,
COVID. Since then, nine more countries are performing their tion. radiology, and nursing health workers throughout the region.
own testing, with another four on the way. “The reason why Like most health experts, she believed at some point, the Nurses throughout the Pacific Islands were supported by the Euro-
this is a great move is that people will now be able to test for Delta strain will arrive in most countries, even those with few pean Union and Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to
other things, like Zika, Chikunga, measles,” he says. “Prior to if any COVID cases. She fears that pressures from local out- undertake specialized courses in critical care and perioperative care
COVID, you had to send your test for these things to New Zea- breaks will cause disruptions to routine health services. funded. To complement the training SPC also supported the strength-
land, Australia, or Fiji, or New Caledonia. And by and large, Former Fiji Minister of Health Dr Neil Sharma agreed, add- ening of critical care facilities service provision, biomedical equip-
the results came back two or three weeks later, so patients ing that Fiji’s health facilities are extremely fragile: “Urgent ment, and consumables as well as biomedical engineering support for
[were] either home or dead. healthcare strengthening of facilities is needed, our supply technicians in country.
“So it’s a good example of where the COVID response has chain of medication and consumables is important. Our Tech- Infection, prevention, and control (IPC) is recognized as an essential
enabled countries to be able to do a lot more than what they nology is in need of upgrades and servicing, and our human requirement for COVID-19 preparedness and response. In collabora-
would normally.” resource needs to be optimised. We have focused very firmly tion with WHO, SPC has led work in this area, with the production of
For Fiji’s most senior government medical officer, Dr James on COVID, and we’ve left things loose on NCDs, which is the technical guidance’s, and the updating of the Pacific Public Health Sur-
veillance Network (PPHSN) Regional Infection Prevention and Control
Fong, one of the biggest lessons has been the need for ‘line largest killer. Guidelines 2021, that has been used by PICTs to develop their own
list management’ across the sector, so that people are better national IPC guidelines. Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji for example
connected to the health care they need and don’t get “cut Non communicable diseases have finalized their IPC guidelines.
and paste” care. While the world has been consumed by the COVID- re- SPC has worked closely with the Laboratory teams in the PICTs to
Line list management involves collection of what types of sponse, the Pacific’s other pandemic continues unabated. improve and strengthen COVID-19 testing capabilities. GeneXpert
people are getting the disease, when they became symptom- Three-quarters of deaths in the Pacific are related to non- testing machines and cartridges were provided to PICTs complement-
atic and where they may have been exposed. communicable diseases (NCDs) according to World Bank data. ed with training support to enhance in-country capacity for molecular
Dr Fong says applying these principles will ensure access to For Fiji, 84% of deaths are NCD-related, the highest figure in (RT-PCR) testing for COVID-19. PICTs lab scientists were trained by on
health care is meaningfully improved. “You can’t just build a the world. Three diabetes-related amputations are performed how to conduct COVID-19 testing, a regional monitoring system was
health centre somewhere and then expect things just to flow daily in Fiji. established to monitor quality of COVID-19 testing in PICTs and status
in. You have to have a plan of actively seeking out and making “This continuous rise in cases and impact is happening, de- of test reagents supplies. The SPC laboratory team has also provided
on-going guidance on equipment maintenance and facilitating sharing
[sure] people have access to care.” spite the very significant investment made in this area,” says of testing supplies between countries based on information collected
Reflecting on the year that Fiji was largely COVID-free, he Simona Achitei of the Pacific Food Revolution. from the COVID-19 monitoring tool.
said while “Most of us were caught up in the old traditional In Fiji, Dr James Fong says COVID has also demonstrated the SPC’s Health Surveillance, Preparedness and Response Programme
way of medical practice, where you passively wait for things “miserable” failure of health promotion initiatives over the The Pacific Community’s Public Health Division works in the re- continues to monitor and share data and innovative visualization
to happen. year, and that future primary health care programs will need gion to improve, promote, and protect the health of the Pacific Island products on the COVID-19 situation in the region, while providing
“And I think one of the one of the biggest lessons that I take to move beyond lip service. people. technical support and training capacity development to PICTs through
away from this, and a lesson that I need to inculcate in the The world’s four most obese nations are found in the Pacific This year has been challenging thus far as the Pacific region wit- the Pacific Public Health Surveillance Network, in the areas of epide-
system is that one of the strongest [ways] of being proactive (Cook Islands, Tonga, Samoa and Kiribati) , and obesity and nessed the COVID-19 pandemic take precedence. The Public Health miology, surveillance, contact tracing, infection prevention and con-
is to have a line list, [because] people started finding new other NCDs are believed to not only increase the risk factor Division (PHD) from the onset of the pandemic, has actively engaged trol, risk communication and community engagement, and response,
ways of doing things, they were able to categorise risk, they for contracting COVID-19, but also increase the likelihood of with its member Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTS) sup- to epidemic and emerging diseases outbreaks, including COVID-19.
were able to know who’s low risk, what to do for them, who’s being hospitalised. Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands porting COVID-19 preparedness and response. In addition to supporting PICTs with their COVID-19 surveillance and
response, SPRP was able to finalize and launch the, in collaboration
a medium risk, who’s high risk. And the care plans evolved have the high double burden of malnutrition and obesity. The division continues to provide technical support through non with WHO, manual on surveillance and control of Aedes vectors in the
naturally.” Ian Anderson says the interconnectedness of different communicable diseases (NCD), clinical services, infection, prevention Pacific, that will serve as a reference for upcoming trainings aiming
In Papua New Guinea, Oro province Governor, Gary Juffa diseases has been highlighted by COVID. “What they’re finding and control, laboratory and surveillance, risk communications, train- at reducing the burden of mosquito borne diseases, such as dengue
ings, and biomedical services.
suggests the crisis has provided an opportunity for PNG to in Australia, and I guess this would be true in Fiji as well, is fever, across the region. SPRP is also implementing the DFAT funded
Evidence have showed that people with underlying health condi-
“review our defunct national department of health, which has the people with diabetes, people with obesity, people who tions such as diabetes or heart diseases are at greater risk to develop Pacific Evidence Informed Policies and Programs (Pac-EVIPP), aimed
deteriorated and has been decimated by corruption for so smoke, they are much more likely to have a severe response severe illness from of COVID-19, The NCD Program in collaboration at strengthening regional health security.
many years that basically,[it’s] not a responsible functioning to COVID. with development partners, led in supporting countries to strengthen PHD’s efforts and ongoing work in the region is supported and fund-
entity.” “It’s a good reminder that things like smoking just have no implementation of the Pacific NCD Roadmap and monitoring the im- ed by the European Union (EU), Agence Française de Développement
His first step would be to look at public accounts commit- health benefits. None whatsoever. So I think it is very im- plementation through the Pacific Monitoring Alliance for NCD Action (AFD), Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the
tee reports from recent years, which he says exposed corrupt portant to sort of use this COVID situation as a reminder to (MANA) Dashboard. Amid the challenges of COVID-19, through sup- New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) and United
dealings in Health’s procurement committee. He believes an governments and society, tobacco is a killer.” port from NCD Programme, PICTs continue to strengthen policies and States Agency for International Development (USAID).
emergency task force should be set up. legislation, engage stakeholders and communities, build capacity and The PHD continues to work in collaboration with partners and do-
Senior Research Fellow, National Centre for Epidemiology editor@islandsbusiness.com resources, and implement behavior change interventions to scale up nors in the Pacific region to provide PICTs with support geared towards
actions on NCDs. improving the health of the Pacific people.
For more information, please visit www.spc.int or phd.spc.int
16 Islands Business, November 2021