Marshall Islands' Health Needs Cited in Recent News

Pacific EMPRINTS-NDLS-Pacific Regional Center brings training to Majuro - Over a three-day period, the team trained forty-five key health personnel.

Making Maternal Health Matter - Report of the NZPPD Open Hearing on Maternal Health in the Pacific sites Marshall Islands for high adolescent pregnancy rates

Cross-Party Parliamentarians’ Group Launches Report on Maternal Health in the Pacific -Teenage pregnancy rates in Marshall Islands are among the highest in the world.

Paradise lost, or regained?Nutritionist found that the most popular breakfasts for Marshall Islands kids were popsicles and soft drinks, or packaged ramen noodles sprinkled with sugary Kool-Aid powder.

Nitijela bans betelnut - Voted to ban betelnut from the Marshall Islands on Tuesday.

Global Focus Work Database -Trinity Health International recruiting primary care physicians for 177 Health Care Program in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

TRAINING: A team of five University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa National Disaster Life Support (NDLS) certified instructors that are part of the Pacific EMPRINTS program flew to the Marshall Islands during January 2010 to conduct courses in Basic Disaster Life Support (BDLS) and Advanced Disaster Life Support (ADLS). Over a three-day period, the team trained forty-five (45) health professionals, emergency responders and other key health personnel selected by the Majuro Ministry of Health. “These trainings will help health professionals better prepare and respond to natural, technological, terrorist and other public health emergencies such as pandemic influenzas and other infectious diseases,” said Ann Sakaguchi, Pacific EMPRINTS and National Disaster Life Support (NDLS)-Pacific Regional Center Director.

REPORT:In the Federated States of Micronesia and Marshall Islands up to 20% of births are to adolescent mothers. According to the Deomographic and Health Survey in the Marshlall Islands from 2007, the adolescent fertility rate was 138 births per 1000 women ages 15-19. In comparison, New Zealand's adolescent fertility rate in 2008 was 31.6 per 1000 women, and New Zealands has the second highest teenage pregnancy ratae in the developed world.

PARLIAMENTARIANS:“We know what is needed to prevent so many of these deaths. Access to family planning services and contraceptives, more midwives and better facilities to name a few. But it also requires the political willingness to prioritise and invest in this area” says Dr Jackie Blue MP, NZPPD Chair.Many women in the Pacific do not have access to family planning services, modern contraceptives or the necessary care during and after pregnancy and childbirth. Teenage pregnancy rates in Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands are among the highest in the world. The recommendations in Making Maternal Health Matter include calling on the New Zealand and Australian aid programmes to ring fence 15% of Official Development Assistance for sexual and reproductive health, with a proportion of that funding to be allocated specifically for family planning and care during and after pregnancy and childbirth.

NUTRITIONIST: A country made up of tropical islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean sounds like paradise, but for many people native to the Marshall Islands, life is far from idyllic. Yes, there are palm trees and sunlit sandy beaches, but in the streets of the inhabited islands, the devastating effects of poor nutrition are obvious.Middle-aged men use makeshift wheelchairs because they’ve had a leg amputated below the knee. The once fit and healthy people gradually came to depend on imported, processed foods ― with tragic results.“Many program participants were not just able to control their blood sugar, they were able to restore their health,” says Davis. Those who stayed with the program over the two years of follow-up saw their weight, blood sugars, cholesterol levels and blood pressures drop, and reported reduced pain and higher energy levels. Davis will be back in the Marshall Islands early in 2010 to run another intervention, and work on the public school health curriculum and hospital food services.

BANNED::Nitijela voted to ban betelnut from the Marshall Islands on Tuesday. The vote approved a stronger version of the ban than originally introduced in March 2009 by Majuro Senator Wilfred I. Kendall.