Being vaccinated is the best protection for Pacific communities in tackling the Covid-19 virus, says Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) Dentist and Etu Pasifika Board Member, Dr Tule Misa.

A current home isolation pilot initiative for those directly affected by the Delta outbreak is a model that will not work for most Pacific Island households, says Pasifika Medical Association (PMA) and Pasifika Futures (PFL) CEO, Debbie Sorensen.

The news of a positive Covid-19 case reaching the shores of Tonga last week, following the arrival of a chartered flight from Christchurch, has resulted in a surge of vaccination numbers for the Christchurch community. Despite new cases of Covid-19 in the community, Christchurch remains at Alert Level 2.

Tokelauans across New Zealand are taking a moment to pause and celebrate Tokelau Language Week, despite on-going disruptions from the current Covid-19 outbreak.

In line with the national drive to get as many people vaccinated before Christmas, the Niue community are running their second mass vaccination event in Auckland, following their first event last month which saw nearly 1,000 people get vaccinated.

In a recent talanoa panel for 531 P.I’s Pacific Mornings show CEO of Pasifika Medical Association (PMA) and Pasifika Futures (PFL), Debbie Sorensen, and PMA member, Dr Collin Tukuitonga, shared their thoughts around the state of the current national Covid-19 strategy and how this will impact our Pacific community now and in the future.

Being deeply rooted in your culture and being proud to be from the Pacific is how Niue youth and Pasifika Medical Association Communications Advisor, Hele Ikimotu, describes success.

Tributes are flowing in with the sudden passing of Tauranga based Orthopaedic Surgeon and Pasifika Medical Association (PMA) member Dr Andrew MacDiarmid.

The Pasifika Medical Association (PMA) welcomes the decision by Government to outline a pathway for Aotearoa to move towards a Covid-19 Protection Framework. We note the intention to shift to the new framework when DHBs reach 90% full vaccination. This will be important to allow Pacific communities to plan with some certainty.

Pasifika Futures’ (PFL) Ngalu Fānifo mental health segment on 531 P.I completed its third show last week with Dr Siale Foliaki, offering extended insights from the previous show on stress and anxiety.

DJ Tuaru Temu tears up when he thinks how many Pasifika high school students are working full time to support their families who’ve lost income due to Covid-19.

The Ngalu Fānifo mental health segment, completed its second show last week with Dr Siale Foliaki addressing a couple of key mental health concerns that we all face in our day to day lives which have been compounded during the current Alert Level restrictions: Stress and anxiety.