The impact of the ongoing Covid-19 crisis is deeply affecting our elderly with an increase in anxiety and depression amongst the group, says a leading Pacific old age psychiatrist.

An injection of $19.5 million has been allocated to frontline Pacific healthcare teams to help combat Covid-19 and to support the Pacific community during this current resurgence.

Providing food packages and financial help for utility bills has been a top priority for many of the organisations who are supporting Pacific families during the Covid-19 crisis.

More than 13,000 Pacific families have received support packages from various Pacific organisations since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country in March this year.

An inaugural medical webinar series launched to help Pacific medical students decide which area of medicine to specialise in after their studies, had more than 100 online attendees from hospital sites across the country.

The Fono, A health and wellbeing group that serves Pacific communities in Auckland and Northland, has been working overtime to mobilise medical support and other resources to Pacific families who have tested positive amid the recent resurgence of Covid-19 and those they have come in close contact with.

Weekly briefings in different Pacific languages on various media outlets amid the recent Covid-19 resurgence in Auckland is a vital resource for the community, says a senior Pacific doctor.

All Blacks legend and co-founder of the Village Community Services Trust, Laáuli Sir Michael Jones KNZM says Pacific people have the resilience and compassion to rise above the negative online comments targeting the community, after it was revealed that the majority of new Covid-19 cases were from Pacific families.

A senior Pacific doctor has applauded the actions of the Pacific community and church leaders who have been proactive during the recent Covid-19 resurgence by ensuring their members are getting tested and following the correct medical advice.

News that the recent wave of the Covid-19 outbreak has mainly affected Pacific Island individuals has prompted senior Pasifika Medical Association member, Dr Colin Tukuitonga, to call for more families to get tested, adhere to health guidelines and block out any negative racial comments and misinformation that is being shared about the virus.

The principal of Tamaki College in Auckland and board director of Pasifika Futures Ltd, Mrs Soana Pamaka, is sending out a positive message to her students and wider community during the recent Covid-19 resurgence – “Keep calm and don’t panic.”

A Pasifika health boss in New Zealand is stressing the importance of mobilising medical and other resources to help equip Pacific communities and providers within those communities in case of a Covid-19 outbreak.