Results for Health

Testing kits that can detect HIV and Syphilis infections using finger prick blood or serum will be piloted in Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati, Palau and Vanuatu, over the next three months starting in September.

Tonga has finally eliminated lymphatic filariasis (kulokula fua), after more than three centuries, validated by the WHO. This is a health problem that caused the swelling of one's limbs, scrotum and breast.

The Child Cancer Foundation Tonga received a donation of $5,000 today from the chairman of the Reddy Group, owner of the Tanoa International Dateline Hotel, Mr YP Reddy, in Nuku'alofa, to help with special food needs and medical transport.

Tonga is celebrating World Autism Awareness Day with a special prayer service on Sunday, 2 April at the Mango Tree Centre in Houmakelikao organized by Autism Tonga. Families and friends of the 16 autistic children in Tonga will be the guests of honour at the service.

Typhoid can be spread by flies and especially in homes with pit latrines, warns Tonga’s Director of Health, Dr Siale 'Akauola, who said Tongans must practice better hygiene to avoid typhoid, after four cases were confirmed on Tongatapu this year.

A medical team from Interplast Australia and New Zealand will be working at Vaiola Hospital on February 16-23 to carry out plastic and reconstructive surgery as well as training.

Father of six, Joseph Finau, is becoming a role model for obese Pacific Islanders after losing an incredible 100 kilos in two years. Finau who lives in South Auckland, New Zealand, weighed 220kg in 2014.

"Use antibiotics responsibly" is the theme of a World Antibiotics Awareness Week launched in Nuku’alofa on Monday, November 14 to raise awareness about the serious health issue of antibiotic resistance. Tonga's doctors pointed out that misuse of antibiotics is not only dangerous but also costly and urged Tongans to adopt better hygiene to help fight the spread of infectious diseases.

Anne Thorp, ambassador for the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation said 3,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year in New Zealand. She told a “Pink in Paris” fundraising luncheon, organized by the Tonga Breast Cancer Society on 22 October, that Maori and Pacific Islands women often don't present themselves early enough for treatment.