Auckland University of Technology (AUT) Senior Lecturer and Mental Health Researcher, Dr Sione Vaka, offered some insights around normalising mental health in Pacific communities.

“Our people aren’t engaging with mental health services as much as they should be. We need to be more friendly and accommodating. Reflecting on the Mental Health Inquiry in 2018, the systems are coercive, too cold and clinical.

There needs to be a wider understanding of what we need to change and implement. We need to use frameworks that our people can understand; we need to bring something new and listen tothe community because they know how to look after themselves.”

Dr Vaka was part of a Psychosocial team deployed to Tonga earlier in the year, offering mental health support, following the impacts of a volcanic eruption and tsunami.

“Some of our people still aren’t familiar with anxiety and depression. We need to apply cultural concepts and values when it comes to delivering mental health services.”

The conference was also an opportunity for dignitaries from around the Pacific to speak on humanitarian assistance in their respective island countries. 

Minister of Health for Fiji, Hon. Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete, spoke on Fiji’s Covid-19 response.

“It was quite a journey and one of the challenges included the lack of science, so it was key for us to ensure we were effectively communicating and engaging with the community. 

The key to success for how we managed Covid-19 was the importance of having strong political leadership, our capacity to respond from both a technical and surge point of view and making sure support was being offered to our population.”

Minister of Health for Tonga, Hon. Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, offered an emotional reflection on the disaster of the volcanic eruption and tsunami. 

“The volcanic eruption and following tsunami was a time of distress for the people of Tonga. We lost four lives to the disaster and the effects continued long after in our community. 

Mental health issues came to the fore, and we were very grateful for PMA deploying a team to offer mental health support. They were able to hold spaces and conversations around the trauma caused by the disaster.”

He also spoke on the further challenges caused by Covid-19 which entered the community shortly after.

“Covid-19 arrived while we were waiting for our airport to reopen. We had to act quite swiftly, especially with vaccinating our community. We have had around 16,000 cases and only 12 deaths; we’re thankful for the sharing of knowledge from around the region which allowed us to tackle Covid-19.” 

Cook Islands Health Secretary, Mr Bob Williams, echoed the importance of collective efforts in the response to Covid-19.

“Having observed the effects of Covid-19 in other countries, it was important that we moved quickly. Before Covid-19 had arrived in the Cook Islands, we had vaccinated our eligible population.

PMA was really supportive during this time by offering advice but also with their support for repatriation flights. It really highlighted the strength of working together as a collective to mitigate the challenges of Covid-19.”

Closing off the conference, PMA President, Dr Kiki Maoate expressed his gratitude to attendees and challenged everyone to maintain the energy and passion generated by the conference.

View the Conference Gallery here.

Date: Tuesday 27 September 2022

#pmafamily #pmaconference22