Health in Tonga
Within the Pacific, Tonga is recognised to have some of the highest overall health standards, implementing a combination of preventative and immediate strategies to curb rates of communicable disease, child mortality and overall life expectancy.
[7] Life expectancy in Tonga has experienced some fluctuation due to the increased prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCD) and also the arise of epidemics in more recent times.
[11] Practices such as tootoonima and nawgia which mean the removal of the fingers and strangulation of children were used traditionally in the past to reverse the pain and illness of a noble.
[15] The bark and leaves are removed from the tree and then wrapped around various parts of the body to treat wounds or ailments which function in similar ways to cloth and cotton dressings used more commonly in western medicine.
[15] Contained within the pepper family, Kava is a root which is crushed or ground into a powder before being added to water to create a drink used often in traditional ceremonies or gatherings.
[16] However, due to this, the root is also classified as a drug and when used recreationally outside of traditional or medical purposes can have serious long term effects such as bipolar disorders and severe weight loss.
[16] Leaves are extracted from the noni tree and are typically pressed into a juice which can be drunk daily or used to treat more specific infections such as sores, boils and thrush of the gums.
[11] These diseases include disorders related to the presence of ghosts or spirits of a dead person, which are said to inhabit the nervous, gastrointestinal, urinary and musculoskeletal system and causing various symptoms of joint sprains, vomiting and hysteria.
[17] Natural medicine within Tonga also incorporates the role of traditional healers, referred to as Kau faito'o, who are considered to have a high level of knowledge and expertise regarding ethnomedical practices and pharmacology.
[12] Healers are predominately women and acquire their skills through observation of elders within their family or native tribe allowing for traditional medical practices to be passed from generations with little change.
[18] Healers are respected within local communities however still retain the same social standing as the rest of the population as healing is considered a side practice to normal daily duties and tasks.
[12] Healers often also do not expect or receive compensation in the form of money like general practitioners, rather they are presented with small gifts or tokens such as food or cultural artefacts as a thank you for their treatment.
[1] These partners include and are not limited to the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), WHO, UN and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
[25] Historically, Polynesians have had a bigger build compared to the standard Anglo-Saxon or Eurocentric anatomy, which has suggested the need for a restructuring of the Body Mass Index (BMI) to cater for this.
[26] Globalisation has had a significant impact on the nutrition and levels of physical activity amongst the adult population leading the preference of a more sedentary lifestyle and importing of less nutritious and high fat foods.
[28] This problem was furthered leading to the increasing of Tongan obesity ratings due to the importing of mutton flaps from New Zealand and other internationally sourced meats such as turkey legs from the United States.
[28] Health and diet practitioners note that just through reducing consumption of mutton flaps by 50% and replacing this with fish, individuals would be consuming 30g less fat and 15g less salt daily.
[25] The control of Tobacco usage and prevalence amongst Tongan communities is also a health concern attributed to helping slow the growth of NCDs within the Pacific region.
[2] This prompted a legislative change within Tonga to restrict smoking on church, work and school premises to reduce the levels of tobacco usage and NCDs caused by individual factors and habits.
[35] The Tongan government and Ministry of Health created an Epidemic Task Force (ETF) which held weekly meetings to confer on how the outbreak should be managed.
[36] To help reduce the number of new cases the ETF instituted a vaccination program targeting those aged 10–24 aiming to re-vaccinate an estimated 15,000 people.
