Results for Health

Twenty Tongan nurses, who are the first to be trained in Non-Communicable Diseases, graduated last week and will be on the frontline of treating NCDs, which have accounted for 74 percent of all deaths in Tonga in 2008.

A new report states that Tonga is the fourth most over-weight country in the world, and that Non-Communicable Diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, neoplasms and diabetes are a leading cause of adult death, while data showed that 36 percent of Tongan boys and 54 percent of Tongan girls were over-weight or obese. Death rates in the most productive age groups are three times higher than in Australia and New Zealand

The Kolovai Health Centre on the western district of Tongatapu has re-opened its doors on October 4 after being refurbished with over $20,000 pa’anga by the Australian Government, supporting the fight against Non-Communicable Diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, which are reaching epidemic levels in Tonga.

Tonga's government has imposed new Duties on unhealthy foods along with higher Excise Tax Rates on tobacco products, and slashed tobacco concessions for arriving passengers by half, in an effort to encourage “healthy living”.

A Tongan social services provider, the Ma‘a Fafine mo e Famili, has won funding support to continue its caregiving to the elderly and disabled children for another year.

A netball program to combat Non Communicable Diseases - the main public health challenge in Tonga was launched in Nuku'alofa on 22 May, and for a second year will hold a national netball tournament and community outreach programs to encourage a more active and healthier lifestyle for Tongans.

Diabetes cannot be cured, Tonga's King Tupou VI said today and expressed concern that an increasing number of youth are being diagnosed with the disease in Tonga.

Violence is a learned behavior. Community violence is a traumatic event that is a bad symptom of something that has reached deep into our society. It is a behavior of citizens who are stressed, who are trying to cope and solve problems. Some of the sources of stress include poverty, lack of housing, joblessness, family pressures, and hopelessness. ...In random community violence, like we are seeing here in Tongatapu, there are no warnings. This should make us all realize that something like this could happen to us. By Kristi Seymour.

Tonga recorded 98 suicides over the last 12 years, and most were male and under the age of 30 years, Tonga's Police Commissioner Grant O'Fee told a local consultation on suicide trends and risk that started on March 19.