Pacific Notes
Pacific Notes
Cholera Outbreak on Ebeye Island
A cholera outbreak hit Ebeye Island in the Marshall Islands in mid-December, claming six lives. But by the end of January, the outbreak appeared to be abating with virtually nobody hospitalized and only a trickle of patients receiving outpatient services for diarrhea. A total of 306 suspected cases of cholera were reported on Ebeye from late November through early January by the Ministry of Health, which responded with a major vaccine drive using a recently developed Swiss-made vaccine. Several thousand islanders were immunized, while the Ministry issued emergency regulations requiring that anyone wanting to leave Ebeye have a certificate from Ebeye hospital showing proof of vaccination.
When three cholera cases turned up on Lae Atoll, nearby to Ebeye, the Ministry sent an emergency medical team that, in early January, gave the entire population over two years of age — 277 people — antibiotics, and treated wells and water catchments. —Giff Johnson
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Islands Angered by Tax-Haven Blacklist
Nauru, Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa, Vanuatu and the Marshall Islands are among 33 developing countries placed on an OECD blacklist for "harmful tax practices." At a January meeting in Barbados the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development issued the notice.
"It really concerns us to be on the list," said Marshall Islands Justice Minister Witten Philippo, adding that the "big countries have their own tax problems but want to blame small island countries."
OECD’s move has been strongly opposed by many of the 33 countries, as well as a number of prominent American Congressmen. U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson of Texas wrote OECD secretary general Donald Johnston in early January criticizing OECD’s "campaign against ‘harmful tax competition,’" saying that "countries with high tax burdens need more (not less) international tax competition in order to provide incentives for lowering their tax burden." He questioned why OECD was focusing on "harmful tax competition" in developing nations instead of on "harmfully high levels of tax burdens" in its member nations.
Edward Bigler, who manages the Trust Company of the Marshall Islands, which operates a flag of convenience ship registry and off-shore corporate business, said that unlike the money-laundering issue last year, tax practices will be much more difficult to gain agreement on because OECD demands that developing countries shape up their tax laws "infringes on the sovereign rights of governments to set their taxes" in their own best interests. —By Giff Johnson
Islands Highlight 20th Hawaii Film Festival
Films both by and about Pacific islanders were honored in awards and shown at the Hawaii International Film Festival late last year. Contemporary Art and Culture was the focus of Pacific Passages, Tu Tangata: Weaving for the People (New Zealand), A Mau A Mau: to Continue Forever and Kumu Hula: A Tradition of Learning.
Political issues were also addressed. The Diplomat personalized the situation in Timor; Since The Company Came dealt with the affects of a timber operation in the Solomon Islands; The Feathers of Peace concerned the genocide of the Moriori people of the Chathan Islands; Compassionate Exile revisited life in exile in a former Fijian leper colony.
For more information contact Hawaii International Film Festival office at
Suite 745, Pacific Tower,1001 Bishop St. Honolulu, HI 96813. E-mail info@hiff.org.
— By Caroline Yacoe
Dengue Outbreak Hits Palau
Dengue fever, a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes, is now considered endemic in the Western Pacific region. Several Pacific Islands have experienced unusually high levels of dengue in the past few years. Palau had an outbreak of dengue in 1988 that produced 511 suspected cases and 4 deaths, and another outbreak in 1995.
This past December, Palau’s Bureau of Public Health declared a new dengue epidemic. A sudden increase in cases was detected early in the fall, and by mid-December, a total of 54 were confirmed. One death from dengue has occurred.
The Ministry of Health and partner agencies responded with house-to-house surveys to identify dengue cases and notify the public, and to minimize mosquito-breeding sites. The Northern Marianas and Hawaii assisted by sending supplies of intravenous fluids, as supportive therapy is the only treatment available for dengue.
Dengue is not transmitted directly from person to person, but via Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. A. aegypti mosquitoes are day-biters, with increased activity for 2 hours after sunrise and several hours before sunset. Neither the Centers for Disease Control nor other international health agencies have issued special advisories against travel to Palau, but recommend general precautions against insect bites. —Lisa Hansen
Israel Conducts Eye Camps in Micronesia
Two top Israeli medical doctors visited the Pohnpei and Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia in January to conduct on-the-spot eye camps for hundreds of islanders suffering from eye disease. The initiative was sponsored by the Israel Foreign Ministry’s Center for International Cooperation (known by its Hebrew acronym, MASHAV) and the Israeli Embassy in Australia.
Dr. Shlomo Melamed, Director of the Glaucoma Center at the Sheba Medical Center’s Eye Institute, and Dr. Isaac Avni, Director of the Macabi medical service’s Department of Ophthalmolgoy and former president of the Israeli Ophthalmological Society, led the mission.
For over a decade, MASHAV has been conducting "on-site" eye camps in countries with limited eye treatment facilities. In addition to treatment provided to hundreds of islanders in need of cataract and related surgery, the Israeli government donated a laser unit for glaucoma therapy and retinal disorders, as well as other pharmaceutical supplies and medicine.
The eye camp follows a successful short-term MASHAV mission to Micronesia in July 2000, when two other Israeli doctors conducted a training program in anesthesiology and emergency room procedures in Yap, Chuuk and Pohnpei. —By Mark Schulman
A. Samoan Church Leader Sanctioned
A church minister who wanted to protect church offerings from abuse by other church officials was sanctioned by the Elders Council of the Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa (CCCAS).
The CCCAS Elders Council initially wanted to strip the "reverend" and "elder" designation for five years and remove Elder Rev. Faletoi Uso as church minister of the Vailoatai village for withholding more than $30,000 of the village church offerings from the main CCCAS general accounting. Rev. Uso, with the endorsement of the CCCAS Vailoatai congregation, gave the general accounting only $2,000 and deposited the rest into an escrow account. A full accounting of the more than $30,000 was turned over to the Elders Council in January. Rev. Uso said his action was to safeguard the village church offerings because of the continuing abuse of funds by CCCAS officials in recent years.
Last summer, the CCCAS was charged with embezzling more than $260,000 of church funds in a get-rich-quick Nigerian scam. The money was never recovered and the CCCAS membership did not find out about the incident until charges were filed and hit the Samoa News.
The Elders Council’s decision on Jan. 10 prompted the village congregation to appeal to the Council through a Samoan traditional "ifoga" (formal apology), in which village chiefs and church members kneeled and bowed their heads, covered with Samoan traditional fine-mats outside of a building where the Council was meeting early Jan. 11 at the CCCAS headquarters. The final decision from the Elders Council was that the "elder" designation is stripped permanently but Rev. Uso will maintain his "reverend" designation and his church ministership for Vailoatai. —Fili Sagapolutele
