Pacific

People in developing nations are generally missing out due to accessibility issues, a slow roll out of vaccines, difficulties getting to remote areas, a lack health of resources and misinformation resulting in vaccine hesitancy.

But ChildFund director of programmes Quenelda Clegg said developed countries need to support the Pacific and also stop hoarding vaccines.

The organisation has been raising awareness about vaccine inequity and the issues happening in the Pacific.

The series of volcanic eruptions were also heard in Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu, and Cook Islands.

Multiple communities in Fiji experienced surges soon after the tsunami and warnings were generated following the eruption again of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai seamount volcano.

Video footage from Samoa and the Cook Islands showed similar activity.

Tonga remains the hardest hit with destruction of homes, vehicles and infrastructure.

Parts of New Zealand were under tsunami advisory after the violent eruption of the underwater volcano.

The food and drink regulator is calling for public comment on proposed changes to the food standard regulating kava use which it said would clarify the original intent of the kava standard, and limit its preparation and consumption to traditional use.

A kava health expert in New Zealand Apo Aporosa said the regulator's proposed changes are just the latest in a long list of questionable regulatory requirements for kava.

New Zealand needs to attract $40 million for a fund that will enable projects targeting climate change, sustainability and covid-19 recovery in the Pacific.

But, Pacific Cooperation Foundation Project Manager David Vaeafe said it's important the Pacific way is acknowledged, and the fund has the potential to do a lot of long term good.

During a recent meeting of the China-Pacific Island Countries Fishery Cooperation and Development Forum, held in Guangzhou, China, Ma Youxiang, the deputy minister of fisheries at China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said China stands ready to cooperate on finding solutions to problems related to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, proposing the establishment of an “intergovernmental multilateral fishery consultation mechanism.”

The three-year programme, which is part of a partnership between the charity Rotary and UNICEF, the UN children's agency, involves delivering vaccines for rotavirus and pneumococcal disease, while teenage girls will also be immunised to protect them from cervical cancer.

The vaccine rollout will run in Nauru, as well as Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue and Palau.

Work has started in Nauru, where Mizuli Apadinuwe's 14-year old daughter received the human papillomavirus vaccine that protects against cervical cancer.

The Pacific has been included in Transparency latest global corruption barometer with a survey of more than 6,000 people from more ten Pacific countries.

It revealed rampant corruption in a number of Pacific states, with the survey participants revealing cases of bribery, vote buying and sexual extortion are common experiences.

Regional advisor, Mariam Mathew, said more needs to be done but this first initial information is invaluable.

The central bank's latest Financial Stability Report indicates the changes will improve the region's financial stability and prosperity, and assist with its recovery and growth.

Difficult access to banking services is one of the reasons why there has been a rise in the use of cryptocurrencies across the Pacific, which are largely unregulated, with trading prohibited in some nations.

Cost is another factor, with a recent study indicating New Zealand's recognised seasonal employer workers paid about 400-dollars a season in remittance transaction fees.

Sounding the warrior call of Pacific youth, she declared that, “We are not drowning, we are fighting.”

Speaking after the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Ms Fruean reminded world leaders that they all have the power at COP26, to be better – “remember that in your meeting rooms and drafting documents are more than just black and white objects’ to remember than in your words you wield the weapons that can save us or sell us out.”

“My name is Moemoana Schwenke. Moemoana means ‘calm ocean’. I am here, at COP26, for the Pacific Islands, and for Samoa. In these places, the land, the ocean and the people have a heartbeat. They are like my roots that firmly ground my identity.”

“Yet now, this calm ocean is angry. It is violent, washing over lands that carry culture, washing over my ancestors’ burial grounds with the chance and fear of my people becoming climate refugees.”