DEAR EDITOR, quoting Radio New Zealand International – April 4, 2018. “A new leadership project aimed at advancing gender equality has been launched in Samoa.

“The Women in Leadership in Samoa project also seeks to improve women’s leadership in the country

“Samoa has taken significant steps towards gender equality and women now hold five of the 50 seats in Parliament, in accordance with a constitutional amendment in 2013 to ensure 10 percent of the seats are held by women.

“A record 24 women stood in the 2016 election, three times as many as in the previous poll.

“Despite these developments organisers of the WILS project said barriers remained which prevented women from engaging in political leadership.

“They include limited pathways into political leadership, certain perceptions about women’s roles, financial constraints, gaps in civic education and the need for broader support.

“The project aimed to address such challenges and support increased women’s representation at all levels of leadership.

“The WILS project is a joint initiative between UN Women, UNDP and the governments of Samoa and Australia” Copyright : RNZI 2018 (All Rights Reserved)

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT

DEAR EDITOR, quoting Radio New Zealand International – April 4, 2018, “Tonga’s government says the country earns close to US$45 million every year from the seasonal workers programme in Australia and New Zealand.

“The Minister of Internal Affairs ‘Akosita Lavulavu made the statement at the recent presentation for a programme for former seasonal workers who were interested in starting businesses in Tonga.

“Mrs Lavulavu told Radio Tonga the Ministry was willing to invest in similar programs to help seasonal workers living in communities in the outer islands as well.

“Bea Duffield from Australian Business Volunteers who facilitated the training said the programme was important and could help participants and contribute to the local economy.

“Dr Duffield said the program was proving to be a success with nine businesses developed so far.” Copyright:   RNZI 2018.   (All Rights Reserved)

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT

DEAR EDITOR, Ms Ruth Liloqula, the chair of Transparency Solomon Islands (TSI) in recent days told the SIBC and Radio New Zealand International that allegedly local MPs are using foreign aid and development projects to divert public attention away from the misuse of domestic funds.

While she was reportedly not criticising overseas development partners and welcomed their assistance, she was essentially claiming MPs were allegedly using deflection tactics about the use of the multi-million dollar constituency development funds (CDF) from Taiwan over which they had complete control.

What constitutes constituency development?   Given that 87 percent of the rural population in the Solomon Islands are going without access to proper health care due to the almost derelict state of the rural health care clinics, I would assume that the re-building or substantial repairs of those clinics would fall within the definition of “constituency development.”

If I am right, then prima facie it does not seem either foreign aid development or money from the CDF is doing anything to improve the situation and one learns almost daily of one or more rural health clinics in such a poor state that the local community are essentially deprived of their human rights to health care.

If Ms Liloqula’s commentary does anything to influence a change in the Solomon Islands and there is more targeted use of the CDF towards the rural population then the government and MPs must be fully cognisant health as a human right creates a legal obligation on the state to ensure access to timely, acceptable health care.

In addition, a state’s obligation to support the right to health includes the allocation of maximum available resources, and that must surely mean functioning rural health clinics and facilities.

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT

DEAR EDITOR, in an article published in Thursday’s edition of the Island Sun this week, Dr Jason Diau, the Chief Executive Officer of the Atoi Adventists Hospital, was quoted as having said non-communicable disease is a heavy burden on the health status of the country’s population.

He went on to add that the issue needs to be seriously considered and quickly addressed with a timely data base detection and a comprehensive treatment plan to prevent premature deaths from NCD’s.

Across the whole Pacific region NCD, principally cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, have become the leading cause of premature death and disability.

In 2011 Pacific Islands Forum leaders and ministers of health declared the Pacific region to be in “a human, social and economic crisis” due to the significant and growing burden of NCDs

The prevalence of NCD risk factors (high obesity, tobacco use, alcohol abuse, elevated fasting blood glucose and hypertension) and the ensuing social and economic impact of premature mortality, morbidity, lost productivity, and escalating health care expenditure poses one of the biggest threats to development across the region.

Some years ago, I read of an independent assessment system for measuring actions to reduce NCDs.

The voluntary alliance had no conditions for membership and then served some 22 Pacific Islands territories and relevant technical partners active in NCD monitoring, drawing them together to better utilise the extensive NCD data-related activity already underway across the region.

The technical partners include: the Pacific Community (SPC); the World Health Organisation (WHO); the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); the Pacific Research Centre for Prevention of Obesity and NCDs (C-POND), based at Fiji National University; the Pacific Islands Health Officers’ Association (PIHOA); and several universities.

The Post Declaration progress in NCD monitoring has been significant, with considerable growth in a number of areas. Three examples include: (i) a rise in the number of epidemiology technicians equipped to conduct NCD monitoring activities.

This has been due to Pacific Public Health Surveillance Network (PPHSN)’s newly implemented training and capacity development programme for ‘Strengthening Health Interventions in the Pacific (SHIP)’ which includes several Data for Decision-Making training modules, and the development of an integrated approach to NCD monitoring and policy intervention in the northern Pacific.

It is perhaps timely for a current evaluation of NCD monitoring because, as Dr Diau has said, the Solomon Islands is still greatly at risk from non communicable diseases and it is not too late to begin promoting and encouraging healthier diets to reduce salt, fat, sugar and foods that contribute to obesity and also encouraging healthier lifestyles, including a better focus on daily exercise.

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT

DEAR EDITOR, when Solomon Islands Finance Minister, Manasseh Sogavare, handed down this year’s $4.068 billion budget in parliament last week he said the government expected to collect more money during 2018 with 3.5 billion of the total budget being sourced locally from import duty on fuels and from withholding tax.

Mr. Sogavare also said “Given our current situation and the limited availability of information on the progress of many ongoing projects, the Government has made a concerted effort to defer and delay several non-performing projects, which realistically won’t be executed or completed successfully in the remaining 8 months of the year.

“We are trying to deliver a credible and realistic budget for 2018; therefore all budgetary allocations have to be supported with some assurance that the resources that have been targeted will be delivered successfully.”

It seems unrealistic to expect the Solomon Islands government, having reduced its development budget by 52 percent or S639 million in 2018, to give any real attention to the situation prevailing in the rural health sector where the 80 or more percent of rural community dwellers are bereft of essential healthcare access and where nearly all of the rural health clinics are in very poor repair and some already totally collapsed and beyond repair.

The rural health clinics, numbering more than 130 in Colonial times, have been allowed to rot because of decades of under-investment in rural health care and where the heath care of the rural population is supposed to be guaranteed by law.

The Solomon Islands government needs to address the missing rights and to adopt a comprehensive and systematic approach to rural health care.

Given the shortage of money what can the government do?

What about help from the World Bank and Britain’s International Development Agency, DFID? Why these two one might ask?

Well, Britain with its past links with the Solomon Islands and with the soon to be officially opened Solomon Islands diplomatic mission in London might be willing to help through its UK Direct Aid Programme.

The 5 year one hundred and fifty million Direct Aid Programme was launched by the UK Government in 2014 and has reportedly changed the lives of over 3 million of the world’s poorest people since that time in 31 countries.

I query, however, what help the Solomon Islands has had from DFID in terms of helping the most vulnerable in the country’s rural outreaches.

I know, too, that DFID provided five million pounds in 2008 towards a Rural Health Project in China. Yes, China!

The China Rural Health Project was supported by the World Bank and DFID which focused on developing the rural health services and facilities in 40 of China’s provinces.

The World Bank provided a loan of $50 million. It was the 11th health-lending project that the World Bank had supported in China since 1984. Those projects, with total World Bank financing of $973 million, as well as policy studies, have contributed significantly to China’s health service delivery capacity development, major diseases control as well as the health system reforms.

The World Bank is also working closely with the Chinese government in preparing a new lending operation on health reform with the focus being to pilot and establish a people-centered health care delivery system in China. Built on the experiences and lessons of the Rural Health project, the new project will adopt the World Bank’s innovative lending approach, the so-called “Program for Results” instrument.

The World Bank has assisted the Solomon Islands in several ways but not to the extent, as far as I am aware, in directly aiding the rural health needs of the communities suffering from proper health care and facilities.

DFID essentially aims to fund small-and medium sized national and international civil society organizations to reduce poverty and work towards achieving Global Goals. Specifically, UK Aid reaches the most marginalized and vulnerable populations.

DID’s agenda is to ‘leave no one behind.’

With that agenda, I would respectfully ask the UK Government not to leave the marginalized rural communities in the Solomon Islands (denied of their legal rights to health care) behind and to favourably help the Solomon Islands with a Rural Health Service Project, similar to the one supported in China in the past.

I appeal to the World Bank, also, to aid such a project accordingly.

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT