Pacific Islanders

There are about 30,000 Pacific islanders in Utah, and there has so far been about 1,200 cases and 13 deaths from the coronavirus among them.

Jake Fitisemanu, of the Utah Pacific Islander Health Coalition, said his organisation had been working hard to get the community to make use of available resources.

He said it had been working with the media, churches, and Pasifika officials in the governor's office.

The state is home to the largest Pacific Island community on the United States mainland - it is made up mostly of Polynesians but also includes a significant number of Micronesians.

As of the middle of this week there have been 1248 Pacific Islanders in Utah reported as affected by the virus, a rate 2.5 times higher than the state average.

Of those cases, 170 have come in the past week with 20 people hospitalised. Thirteen Pacific Islanders have died of COVID-19 in Utah to date.

After undergoing a last health check, the evacuees left the Whangaparaoa military base and travelled by bus to the airport. 

98 New Zealanders left by bus or with family and friends.

The base will soon be back in use as a quarantine centre. Eight New Zealanders on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship​ are due to leave Japan late on Wednesday night on an Australian evacuation flight to Darwin.

Of the 14 New Zealanders originally on board the ship, two are still in hospital in Japan and a family member has stayed with them.

Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says it is exciting to see the recognition of so many people that represent our diverse Pacific identities in Aotearoa, and people who we all know add significant value to making New Zealand a better place for us all by their constant service and advocacy for our youth, children, women, elderly groups, disabilities groups, LGBTQI+ groups, and trade unions.

Former Labour MP Luamanuvao Winnie Laban leads the list of Pacific people recognised this year.

Luamanuvao was formally invested as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit today for services to education and the Pacific community.

Aupito said all the recipients had made a significant contribution, whether at a community or national level, to make a lasting difference in their communities.

Over the past 10 years, the Immigration Advisers Authority has prosecuted 16 unlicensed immigration advisers and 10 of those prosecutions have involved Pacific victims.

IAA Registrar Catherine Albiston says it's still an area of huge concern for them and they're working hard to continue to raise awareness for Pacific families. 

"It's not okay to give immigration advice if you're not a licensed adviser and you're not exempt and people need to be really careful if someone's offering them immigration advice and they're not licensed or exempt," she says.

The report of the study on the impact of the MoneyMinded programme of the Australian New Zealand Bank in Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu was released at the 5th Pacific Media Summit by Jessie Cocker, deputy governor of the National Reserve Bank of Tonga.

Results of the study show that the percentage of participants of MoneyMinded who saved regularly increased in all the four countries.

It went up by 56% for Fiji and Tonga, 44% in Samoa and 40% in Vanuatu.

The temporary migrant labour scheme celebrated its tenth anniversary in Blenheim in July 2017 after initially being introduced in 2007 to assist the New Zealand horticultural industry find a stable workforce whilst improving the economies of the Pacific Islands.

However, RSE Liaison Officer for the Tongan Government Sefita Hao’uli believes the time has come to train workers to transition back to living permanently at home after finishing their time on the scheme.

Among them are Tongans requiring life saving medical treatment like dialysis. While kidney disease is a common ailment in Tonga, treatment isn't publicly available there.

Renal specialist in Auckland Dr Viliami Tutone said the number of non-residents from the Pacific he treats was definitely on the rise.

Dr Tutone, who is a Nephrologist, said it was a tough and sad reality.

"We do have our fair share at Middlemore of non-residents," he said.

A researcher from Waikato University, Apo Aporosa, recently visited Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu to gauge reaction to his study funded by New Zealand's Health Research Council that examines kava and drink driving.

Aporosa said he was advising people to avoid a trend he observed in the Pacific called a 'wash-down'.

He said this is when people drink alcohol after a traditional kava session that can last for hours.