scholarly journals Estimated prevalence of hearing loss and provision of hearing services in Pacific Island nations

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Sanders ◽  
Natasha Houghton ◽  
Ofa Dewes ◽  
Judith McCool ◽  
Peter Thorne
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Otitis Media ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Prevalence Estimates ◽  
Pacific Island Nations

INTRODUCTION: Hearing impairment (HI) affects an estimated 538 million people worldwide, with 80% of these living in developing countries. Untreated HI in childhood may lead to developmental delay and in adults results in social isolation, inability to find or maintain employment, and dependency. Early intervention and support programmes can significantly reduce the negative effects of HI. AIM: To estimate HI prevalence and identify available hearing services in some Pacific countries — Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga. METHODS: Data were collected through literature review and correspondence with service providers. Prevalence estimates were based on census data and previously published regional estimates. RESULTS: Estimates indicate 20–23% of the population may have at least a mild HI, with up to 11% having a moderate impairment or worse. Estimated incidence of chronic otitis media in Pacific Island nations is 3–5 times greater than other Australasian countries in children under 10 years old. Permanent HI from otitis media is substantially more likely in children and adults in Pacific Island nations. Several organisations and individuals provide some limited hearing services in a few Pacific Island nations, but the majority of people with HI are largely underserved. DISCUSSION: Although accurate information on HI prevalence is lacking, prevalence estimates of HI and ear disease suggest they are significant health conditions in Pacific Island nations. There is relatively little support for people with HI or ear disease in the Pacific region. An investment in initiatives to both identify and support people with hearing loss in the Pacific is necessary. KEYWORDS: Health services; hearing loss; otitis media; Pacific Islands

“We Are Our History”: Reviewing the History of Education in Hawaiʻi and Oceania

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 632-643
Author(s):  
Derek Taira
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
History Of Education ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
History Of ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
Pacific Island Nations

There is a “world of difference,” anthropologist Epeli Hauʻofa argued, “between viewing the Pacific as ‘islands in a far sea’ and as ‘a sea of islands.’” The distinction between both perspectives, he explained, is exemplified in the two names used for the region: Pacific Islands and Oceania. The former represents a colonial vision produced by white “continental men” emphasizing the smallness and remoteness of “dry surfaces in a vast ocean far from centers of power.” This understanding has produced and sustained an “economistic and geographic deterministic view” emphasizing Pacific Island nations as “too small, too poor, and too isolated” to take care of themselves. The latter, in contrast, denotes a grand space inhabited by brave and resourceful people whose myths, legends, oral traditions, and cosmologies reveal how they did not conceive of themselves in such “microscopic proportions.” Rather, Oceanic peoples have for over two millennia viewed the sea as a “large world” where peoples, goods, and cultures moved and mingled unhindered by fixed national boundaries.

Trends in Vulnerability to Climate-related Hazards in the Pacific: Research, Understanding and Implications

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hay ◽  
Virginie Duvat ◽  
Alexandre K. Magnan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Hazard Exposure ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Pacific Island Nations

The unique coping capacities and other attributes that Pacific island nations have been developing for centuries have sustained them in the face of an enormous range of local and global challenges. These include climate change-related hazards, and especially tropical cyclones and high-wave incidents that notably generate landslides and river and coastal flooding; droughts; heat waves; and ocean warming. Such hazards place resources, people, and assets at serious risk, as reflected by their vulnerability. However, measuring climate change vulnerability is problematic since climate hazards combine with anthropogenic and other physical drivers to influence the nature, levels, and variability of vulnerability. The few longitudinal studies that have been undertaken for the Pacific island countries show high and increasing vulnerabilities, despite considerable investment of money and other resources at community, island, sector, and national levels.Considering the elements of risk (hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and capacity to adapt), this chapter critically reviews the approaches used in the Pacific to assess vulnerability, analyzes recent changes in the vulnerability of island nations, and lays the foundation for some new thinking on island habitability and futures. It uses lessons learned, as well as success stories and success factors, to present priorities related to the assessment of climate change vulnerabilities, risks, and possible adaptation interventions in the Pacific islands region. These underpin a series of principles aimed at harmonizing understanding and action. Notably, the chapter concludes that transformational resilient development can provide a more effective response to increasingly unprecedented risks and higher vulnerabilities, for both high and low islands, including atolls.

scholarly journals Sport-for-Development in the South Pacific Region: Macro-, Meso-, and Micro-Perspectives

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 303-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Sherry ◽  
Nico Schulenkorf ◽  
Emma Seal ◽  
Matthew Nicholson ◽  
Russell Hoye
Keyword(s):  
Structural Change ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Sport For Development ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Pacific Island Nations

As the field of sport-for-development (SFD) has developed, there has been increasing debate over the ability of SFD programs to effect lasting structural change on target communities. Highlighting the barriers to SFD program delivery in five Pacific Island nations, in this paper we argue that numerous challenges emerging at macro-, meso-, and microlevels must be explored, understood, and accounted for to enact structural change. Building on thematic findings from our empirical cross-nation research project, we discuss the importance of addressing SFD challenges at all levels of society to ensure that interventions are appropriately tailored for the specific and often divergent sociocultural contexts in the Pacific Islands region. We argue for a more holistic approach to planning, management, and evaluation when attempting to deliver structural change through sport.

New Zealand’s ties reset with Pacific will take time

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Marine Resources ◽  
World Population ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Pacific Island Nations

Subject New Zealand's foreign policy towards the Pacific region. Significance New Zealand is 'resetting' its relationship and engagement with South Pacific island nations, which includes increasing its financial contribution to the islands’ development and widening interaction, potentially to a genuinely two-way engagement in place of past ‘paternalistic benevolence’. This is important for Pacific security and prosperity. Impacts China is expanding its influence in the Pacific Islands; frictions may rise between Beijing and Wellington. Beijing and Wellington will compete for influence via infrastructure, trade and aid projects, and naval presence. EU, US and Japanese interest in the Pacific will grow; the United Kingdom is already expanding its diplomatic presence. Rich Pacific marine resources including fish will be increasingly important as world population and food demand grow.

scholarly journals Anaesthesia and Anaesthetic Training in the Pacific Islands

1989 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. H. Hatfield
Keyword(s):  
Health Services ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Operating Theatres ◽  
Pacific Island Nations

These are thoughts and impressions on the practice of anaesthesia, the management of operating theatres, and a plan for the training of anaesthetists for the Pacific island nations. They are based on accumulated experience and personal observations gained over ten years of working and travelling throughout the Pacific region. The concepts and ideas expressed are a correlation and condensation of many conversations with local anaesthetists and people involved with managing hospitals and administering the health services of many of the countries in the Pacific.

scholarly journals Knowledge and attitudes of schoolteachers in the Pacific Islands to childhood hearing loss and hearing services: A national survey protocol for Samoa

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 205031212110415
Author(s):  
Annette Kaspar ◽  
Sione Pifeleti ◽  
Carlie Driscoll
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Childhood Development ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
Island Region ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Childhood Hearing Loss

Objectives: The Pacific Island region is estimated to have among the highest rates of childhood ear disease and hearing loss in the world. The adverse effects of childhood hearing loss include delayed speech/language development, learning difficulties, and reduced social-emotional well-being. Schoolteachers and early childhood educators are among the first professionals who may suspect hearing loss in their young students, and they are well-placed to initiate referrals to appropriate health services. Given the current efforts to implement Inclusive Education in the Pacific Islands, teachers are also uniquely positioned to positively influence, support, and advocate for a child with hearing loss in their classroom. There are no previous studies on this topic from the Pacific Island region. Methods: The study will use a national survey and convenience sampling design. Teachers attending the Annual Teachers Conference in Samoa will be invited to independently and anonymously completed a 23-item questionnaire on childhood hearing loss and hearing services. Questions are in English, with a Samoan translation provided. The participating teachers will be required to respond with “yes,” “no,” or “unsure,” and to mark their response on the questionnaire. The questions assess knowledge of biomedical etiology of hearing impairment, knowledge of the adverse impacts of hearing loss on childhood development, knowledge of hearing loss identification and intervention, and attitudes toward children with a hearing impairment. Results: Not applicable for a study protocol. Conclusion: We publish these protocols to facilitate similar studies in other low- and middle-income countries, and especially among our Pacific Island neighbors.

Oceania and Australasia

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
paul d'Arcy
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
World History ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Settler Societies ◽  
Pacific Island Nations ◽  
Western Half

Oceania and Australasia are relatively recent and externally imposed terms. The term Australasia refers collectively to the lands south of Asia, or present-day Australia and New Zealand. Oceania refers to the Pacific Islands east of present-day Indonesia and the Philippines across to Pitcairn Island in the southeast Pacific and also includes the western half of the island of New Guinea, which is now part of Indonesia. These islands are generally divided into three geographical areas: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Present-day national borders cut across previous indigenous exchange areas or unite peoples with little previous sense of collective identity, especially in the larger Pacific Island nations of southwest Oceania. The region's value and prime relevance to world history lies in its comparative value in terms of European explorers and traders, and subsequent settler societies and their relations with, and impact upon, indigenous peoples.

Pacific islands present Paris diplomatic challenge

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Rising Sea Levels ◽  
Pacific Island Nations

Subject The approach of Pacific island nations to the Paris climate talks. Significance The Pacific island countries face rising sea levels and increasingly destructive extreme weather events due to climate change. As such, they have played a key role in driving international negotiations ahead of the UN climate change conference (COP 21), which begins on November 30 in Paris, and have sought to mobilise networks of sympathetic groups and countries elsewhere in the world. Impacts Conservative contributions from Australia and New Zealand will strain relations with other Pacific nations well after Paris talks end. The Pacific islands are likely to push for an international legal convention on 'climate refugee' status. Developing country claims will limit international financial and technical aid available for the Pacific, even with increased donor pledges. Destination countries for climate-induced migration will face legal and financial challenges.

Ethical considerations for universal newborn hearing screening in the Pacific Islands: a Samoan case study

2020 ◽  
pp. medethics-2020-106718
Author(s):  
Annette Kaspar ◽  
Carlie Driscoll ◽  
Sione Pifeleti ◽  
Penaia A Faumuina
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Professional Community ◽  
Hearing Screening ◽  
Newborn Hearing Screening ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Universal Newborn Hearing Screening ◽  
Newborn Hearing

Permanent congenital and early-onset hearing impairment (PCEOHI) is the most common sensory disorder among newborns. The WHO recommends newborn and infant hearing screening for all member states to facilitate early identification and intervention for children with PCEOHI. Ethical implications of newborn/infant hearing screening in low-income and middle-income countries should be considered. Although the Pacific Island region is estimated to have among the highest global burden of hearing loss, hearing health services are limited and virtually non-existent in Pacific Island countries. The aim of this brief report is to consider the ethical implications of implementing hospital-based universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) in Samoa. Based on well-acknowledged screening principles, this report found that the Samoan context does not satisfy the screening principles for such a programme, and that the implementation of UNHS would, therefore, be unethical. This conclusion was reached even after considering the hypothetical provision of necessary screening and diagnostic audiology equipment from external donors. We recommend that current efforts should be directed towards the wider professional community involved in the daily care of children with a permanent hearing loss. Given the high prevalence of paediatric ear disease in the Pacific Islander population, an interim ear and hearing programme could be considered at the community level. These strategies should provide the infrastructure and referral pathways required in the advent of UNHS in Samoa.

scholarly journals The need for translation and cultural adaptation of audiology questionnaires to enable the development of hearing healthcare policies in the Pacific Islands: a Samoan perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Kaspar ◽  
Sione Pifeleti ◽  
Carlie Driscoll
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Cultural Adaptation ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Health Resources ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Hearing Health ◽  
Translation And Cultural Adaptation

Abstract Background Translation and cultural adaptation of health resources is an integral part of good health-policy development and health program implementation. As part of our efforts to address ear disease and hearing loss in the Pacific Islands, we promote the translation an cultural adaptation of hearing-related questionnaires into local languages and cultural contexts. The Pacific Islands have among the highest rates of ear and hearing disorders in the world and, given the scarcity of ear/hearing health professionals in the region, a public health approach that uses appropriately translated ear/hearing health resources is highly recommended to tackle this health issue. Although formal translation and culturally adaption of hearing-related questionnaires may seem a cumbersome process, the aim of this commentary is to illustrate the potential benefits of translating two audiology questionnaires for our use in Samoa. We have carefully selected questionnaires that will serve multiple purposes (i.e., clinical, epidemiology, monitoring and evaluation, evidence-based health policy formulation and implementation), thus making the process ultimately beneficial and worthwhile. Main body The leading cause of preventable hearing loss among Samoan adolescents and young people is excessive noise exposure to recreational and environmental noise. The Youth Attitude to Noise Scale is a validated tool that assess knowledge and attitudes of adolescents towards recreational and environmental noise, and a Samoan version should provide preliminary data to guide health promotion activities for adolescents on noise-induced hearing loss. The leading cause of hearing disability among older adult Samoans is age-related hearing loss. The Revised Hearing Handicap Inventory is a tool that assess the emotional and social/situational impact of hearing difficulty among older adults, and a Samoan version should provide preliminary data to guide the development of auditory rehabilitation services. Conclusion Investment in quality translations and cultural adaptations of hearing-related questionnaires is essential for the development of audiology services that are relevant to their Pacific Island context. The use of formally translated audiology questionnaires in research studies will optimise data quality, leading to improved hearing health promotion activities, as well as provision of evidence for advocacy for public health noise policy legislation.

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