Photo: AUBERT / BSIP / BSIP via AFP
Samoa - health
Samoa's Ministry of Health has released its latest whooping cough update, showing 352 cases, of which 24 are confirmed.
This is for the period from September 2024 to 12 January 2025.
The Ministry said of the confirmed cases, five had incomplete vaccinations and five cases were unvaccinated.
It said immunisation status is under investigation for the remaining instances.
Upolu is the most affected island with 99 percent of cases there.
Meanwhile, the acting New Zealand High Commissioner to Samoa has announced a 4.1 million tala investment into Samoa's healthcare over five years.
Laveai Ioane said she hopes this funding - equivalent to around US$1.4 million - will significantly enhance the primary health care services that Samoa requires.
The funding is part of the Long Term Placements Program initiated in 2020 with support from the Samoa Ministry of Health, the Public Service Commission, and the Samoa Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Papua New Guinea - landslip
Local media reports 25,000 people in Papua New Guinea's western Highlands are impacted by multiple slips.
The main road into Ukini is crammed with trees and boulders.
Food and coffee gardens have been damaged too.
Money is being raised to get equipment to remove the debris with communities cut off from health services and other government organisations.
Kiribati - finances
The International Monetary Fund is advising the Kiribati Government to rethink Budget changes that have allowed greater access to the earnings from the country's sovereign wealth fund.
Kiribati's Revenue Equalisation Reserve Fund (RERF) was set up with funds from phosphate mining, starting nearly 70 years ago.
It can help the government with budget shortfalls but the RERF earnings had to exceed five percent in real returns before any money could be taken out.
Now, the Kiribati Government can take profits when returns are a nominal two percent on the investment.
The IMF said this raises 'serious concerns about fiscal discipline and significatly elevates the risk of a gradual depletion of the RERF'.
Fiji - mining
Lion One Metals which operates Fiji's Tuvatu Gold Mine has announced revenues of approximately US$12.4 million in the last quarter of last year.
Fiji Times reported that 2024 was the first calendar year of production at Tuvatu, which is in the highlands of Viti Levu, near Nadi.
Chairman and chief executive, Walter Berukoff, said the company is delighted to have achieved consecutive increases in production every quarter throughout 2024.
He said as Lion One Metals continues to develop the mine and unlock the higher-grade portions of the deposit, the trend of increasing production will be maintained.
Solomon Islands - Australian DPM visit
Australia's deputy prime minister Richard Marles has returned from a visit to Solomon Islands last week.
He met with Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele, and the Minister of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology, Trevor Mahaga.
During his meeting with Prime Minister Manele, Marles discussed Australia's enduring commitment to support Solomon Islands' economic, development and security priorities, including support for a new police training centre in Honiara.
