The Cook Islands PM outlines vaccine approach, kidney disease cases increase in Samoa, American Samoa looks to raise smoking age and Fiji pays respect to Somare.
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown Photo: Phillipa Webb / Cook Islands News
Cook Islands PM outlines vaccine plan
The Cook Islands Prime Minister has outlined the groups who will receive the first doses of the covid-19 vaccinations when it arrives.
Mark Brown said frontline health care workers and border workers and their households would get the jab first.
He said the next priority was people aged over 60 followed by those with chronic medical conditions.
At that point the rest of the adult population will be vaccinated.
Brown said his government was working closely with New Zealand to ensure the speedy procurement of supplies.
He said a vaccination programme would allow the Cook Islands to quickly open its border again for business.
Kidney disease cases increase in Samoa
The number of people in Samoa with kidney disease has surpassed 500.
TV1 Samoa reported the Samoan National Kidney Foundation is seeing an increase every year.
Leituala Ben Matalavea said there were still people who did not want to acknowledge they had been affected, especially those with diabetes and high blood pressure.
He said just as the number of people affected by diabetes and high blood pressure kept rising, the number of people needing dialysis was also increasing.
Leituala urged those with non-communicable diseases to get help because they will most certainly end up at the Samoa Kidney Foundation for dialysis.
American Samoa looks to raise smoking age
There is a move in American Samoa to raise the legal smoking age from 18 to 21.
The local House of Representatives is considering the matter.
Four House members are sponsoring the new bill, which seeks to increase the smoking age and introduce other safeguards aimed at deterring youth from smoking.
The measure also seeks to increase the annual licensing fee to sell cigarettes from $US25 to $300 a year.
Retail sales of tobacco products would also be prohibited from being located within 100 yards of a school, and one hour before and after school hours.
The legislation will also cover new smoking products, such as e-cigarettes, e-liquids, nicotine gels and dipping tobacco.
The last legislative attempt to raise the smoking age failed in 2018.
Braille system for Chamorro and Carolinian created
A Braille system for the Chamorro and Carolinian alphabets has been created by an American college student who hasn't been in the Marianas and only learned about the island group from Wikipedia.
Harris Mowbray, an International Relations major at the American University, Washington, DC, made the Braille system for the two native languages of the Marianas.
It gives blind people in the Chamorro and Carolinian communities the ability to read.
He said the Bible would probably be the first thing printed in Chamorro/Carolinian Braille, while saying it could also be used to let blind people navigate the internet, write things down, and even send text messages.
Mowbray said his search for languages that contain rare characters led him to the indigenous languages of the Marianas and Guam.
Fiji pays respect to Somare
Fijians will hold a memorial service today to honour the late Grand Chief of Papua New Guinea, Sir Michael Somare.
Sir Michael died two weeks ago following a short illness, aged 84.
The PNG High Commission in Suva and Fiji's Ministry of Foreign Affairs have drawn up a programme for the ceremony.
A condolence book was opened at the PNG mission for dignitaries to pay tribute to the first Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea.
Fiji's prime minister Frank Bainimarama signed the book and said Fiji had lost a dear friend.
Bainimarama said Sir Michael was more than PNG's founding father, adding his legacy as an architect of regional unity lives on in the hearts of the Pacific people.