At least six Israeli soldiers have taken their own lives in recent months, the major Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth has revealed, citing severe psychological distress caused by prolonged wars in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon as the primary cause, Anadolu Agency reports.

The investigation suggests that the actual number of suicides may be higher, as the Israeli military has yet to release official figures, despite a promise to disclose them by the end of the year.

The report highlights a broader mental health crisis within the Israeli army.

• READ MORE: Israeli soldiers commit suicide after seeing horrors the world can never truly comprehend
• Other Israel’s war on Gaza reports

Regional tension has escalated due to Israel’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 44,000 people, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

Thousands of soldiers have sought help from military mental health clinics or field psychologists, with approximately a third of those affected showing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

According to the investigation, the number of soldiers suffering psychological trauma may exceed those with physical injuries from the war.

The daily cites experts as saying the full extent of this mental health crisis will become clear once military operations are completed and troops return to normal life.

About 1700 soldiers treated
In March, Lucian Tatsa-Laur, head of the Israeli military’s Mental Health Department, told another Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, that approximately 1700 soldiers had received psychological treatment.

Since October 7 last year, reports Anadolu, Israeli military is alleged to have wiped out families in Gaza, pulverised neighbourhoods, dug up mass graves, destroyed cemeteries, bombed shops and businesses, flattened hospitals and morgues, ran tanks and bulldozers on dead bodies, tortured jailed Palestinians with dogs and electricity, subjected detainees to mock executions, and even raped many Palestinians.

Exhibiting sadistic behaviour during the genocide, Israeli soldiers have taunted Palestinian prisoners by claiming they were playing football with their children’s heads in Gaza.

Israeli troops have live streamed hundreds of videos of soldiers looting Palestinian homes, destroying children’s beds, setting homes on fire and laughing, wearing undergarments of displaced Palestinians and stealing children’s toys.

In their mission to “erase” Palestine, Israeli troops have killed a record number of babies, medics, athletes, and journalists — unprecedented in any war in this century.

But, said the news agency, now it’s coming with a cost.

Australia bars former minister
Meanwhile, former Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has been banned from entering Australia over fears of “incitement”.

Shaked, a former MP for the far-right Yamina party, was scheduled to appear at a conference hosted by the pro-Israel Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).

However, the Australian Department of Home Affairs told the former minister on Thursday that she had been denied a visa to travel to the country under the Migration Act.

The act allows the government to deny entry to individuals likely to “vilify Australians” or “incite discord” within the local community.

Speaking to Israeli media, Shaked claimed that her ban was due to her vocal opposition to a Palestinian state, reports Middle East Eye.

She has also previously called for the removal of “all two million” Palestinians from Gaza.

National Party leader Christopher Luxon made claims about health outcomes that were clearly false. Why was he left unchallenged?

In the TVNZ leaders’ debate last night, Luxon and Labour’s Chris Hipkins had a testy exchange over Māori healthcare.

Hipkins held firm on the creation of a Māori Health Authority, established last year, arguing strongly that the persistent gaps in health outcomes and care justified it.

• READ MORE: NZ election 2023: Hipkins and Luxon in fast-paced debate but fail to excite pundits
• Other NZ election 2023 reports
• Full RNZ data on Māori healthcare

Luxon was equally clear in opposition to it. He framed his critique of the authority around an alleged complete lack of progress on Māori health outcomes. He was very specific.

“Every single health outcome has gone backwards under Chris’s government,” Luxon said.

“Six years, not one has improved for Māori or for non-Māori.”

While sweeping in nature, Luxon’s claim did not get a direct response from Hipkins.

Luxon repeated a similar line later in the debate.

“Gone backwards. Chris, under your government, every single health outcome for Māori or non-Māori [has gone backwards]. You can’t have that.”

Hipkins did push back on this occasion, citing the ongoing reduction in rates of smoking.

Luxon’s claim was far from true — there are a number of areas where health outcomes for Māori and non-Māori have improved while Labour has been in charge.

But it is perhaps understandable that Hipkins was not quick to correct Luxon because the data — even though it’s better in many respects — is still grim. Maybe Hipkins did not wish to dwell on this.

Improved health outcomes
There are a number of health outcomes where, for Māori, statistics have improved.

Perhaps Labour’s biggest boast is their track record on bringing down lung cancer and smoking rates for Māori.

Lung cancer is the second leading cause of death for Māori in Aotearoa. But according to the Ministry of Health, rates of lung disease for Māori have come down.

In 2017, the rate per 100,000 people was 79.9 for Māori. By 2019, it was down to 68.4. This also aligns with smoking rates among Māori dropping.

Pre-colonisation, Māori did not smoke. However, when tobacco was introduced to Aotearoa in the 18th century that quickly changed.

Smoking has been particularly harmful for Māori who have higher smoking rates than non-Māori and experience greater rates of death and tobacco-related illness.

In 2017/18, the smoking rate for Māori adults was 35.3 percent. By 2021/22, it was down to 20.9 percent (approximately 127,000 people).

Rates were falling under National but they have continued to drop under Labour, which has rolled out a number of initiatives in an effort to reduce nation-wide smoking rates.

As part of the Smokefree 2025 Action Plan, historic and world-leading legislation mandated an annually rising smoking age that will mean that anyone born on or after 1 January, 2009, will never be able to purchase tobacco products.

Other cancers
Overall, cancer registrations rates among Māori fell from 416 per 100,000 people in 2017 to 405.7 in 2019.

Breast cancer registration rates for Māori women fell from 140.7 per 100,000 people in 2010 to 122.5 per 100,000 in 2019. Prostate cancer registration rates for Māori fell from 105.5 for Māori in 2017 to 103.5 in 2019.

For non-Māori, overall cancer registration rates increased slightly from 323.2 (2017) to 332.4 (2019).

Life expectancy
The life expectancy gap between Māori and non-Māori may be the most telling indicator of all when it comes to inequities.

According to the latest available data from 2019, life expectancy at birth for Māori men in 2017-2019 was 73.4 years, up 3.1 years from 2005-2007 data.

The life expectancy for non-Māori men is 80.9 years. For Māori women, it was 77.1 years, up 2 years from 2005-2007. Non-Māori women are expected to live to 84.4 years.

While Māori life expectancy has increased over time, the gap to non-Māori persists.

At the current rate of progress it will be more than a century before Māori and non-Māori have equal life expectancy, a study by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists found in 2021.

Child immunisation
In the debate, after Hipkins raised smoking as an area of improvement, Luxon said child immunisation was a concern. On this, he was correct.

Over the past six years, child immunisation rates have steadily fallen.

In 2017, 86.2 percent of eligible Māori five year olds had completed all of their age-appropriate immunisations. As of last year, the rate had shrunk to only 71.8 percent. That is an alarming 16 point drop in the period Labour has been in power.

In April of this year a report commissioned by Te Whatu Ora’s Immunisation Taskforce found that immunisation failed to achieve “adequate on-time immunisation rates in young tamariki” and to immunise Māori, meaning those who were most susceptible to “vaccine-preventable disease” had the lowest immunisation coverage.

The report highlighted the worst rate in the country — just 34 percent of Māori children in South Auckland were fully vaccinated. It attributed part of the problem to vaccinators being diverted to the country’s covid-19 pandemic response.

“This caused childhood immunisation rates to plummet. These rates are now the lowest they have ever been and ethnic disparities have further expanded,” it said.

The report outlined 54 recommendations covering funding, delivery, technology, communications and governance across the programme.

In the debate, Hipkins suggested the anti-vaccine movement was part of the problem, which he sought to link with National.

National has proposed an immunisation incentive payment scheme. The plan would see GP clinics paid a lump sum for achieving immunisation targets, including full immunisation for two-year-olds, MMR vaccines for ages 1-17, and influenza vaccines for ages 65+.

The clinics would have to either achieve 95 percent coverage for their childhood patients, and 75 percent for the flu shots, or achieve a five percentage point increase for each of those target groups, by 30 June 2024 to receive the payment.

Labour’s Dr Ayesha Verrall said a similar scheme already existed.

Labour has also failed to halt type 2 diabetes, the country’s biggest and fastest growing health condition.

Ministry of Health figures show that in 2021 there were 302,778 people with diabetes, predominantly type 2. Since the Labour government came into power in 2017, the estimated rates of the number of Māori with diabetes per 1000 has risen from 66.4 to 70.1 in 2021.

The rates for non-Māori have also climbed from 27.8 in 2017 to 30.1 in 2021. It is also important to note that the rate of diabetes in Aotearoa has been steadily rising over the past 50 years.

Type 2 diabetes can also lead to devastating health conditions and complications, including heart failure, kidney failure, strokes and limb amputation.

According to Ministry of Health data obtained by RNZ under the Official Information Act, since 2011 there has been a 39 percent increase in diabetic limb amputations across the whole population.

For Māori, the number has more than doubled in the past decade from 130 in 2011 to 211 in 2021. Under Labour, the number of Māori diabetic limb amputations rose by 15 percent.

Māori are still 2.8 times more likely to have renal failure, another complication of diabetes.

Mental health
According to Te Whatu Ora, the rate of suspected suicide per 100,000 Māori population in 2021/22 was 16.1. This is not a statistically significant change from the average of the past 13 years.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The Brown Girl Woke initiative hopes to continue empowering Samoan youth in fighting against the culture of silence over violence.

Founder Maluseu Doris Tulifau says it is essential to support young people in finding their voice and speaking out on these issues.

Tulifau, 29, launched the non-profit feminist organisation in the US in 2014, and used the platform to share her own experience as a survivor of violence. She worked in community development and human rights in California before moving to Samoa.

• READ MORE: Other Wansolwara student journalist reports

“I’m a survivor of sexual abuse and when I started to tell my story in America, I was already an activist promoting Pacific Islanders in higher education,” Tulifau said.

In 2018, she began the second chapter of Brown Girl Woke initiative in Samoa where she uncovered the culture of silence and factors that fueled this.

“There are many reasons a lot of us don’t reach that pedigree because of social issues, economic background and our environment around taboo issues and not speaking  out.

“I wanted to empower young women and men on these taboo issues in the community, especially on domestic violence and sexual abuse,” Tulifau said.

Suffering in silence
The organisation’s humble beginnings motivated her to create an environment of refuge for girls who were suffering in silence.

“I started Brown Girl Woke as a club university for girls to be a part of a support group, with the understanding that they would find solutions, understand patriarchy and why women don’t speak up,” she explained.

Today, Brown Girl Woke is working with primary and secondary schools to educate and create awareness on a range of social issue.

“We now run after school programmes that teach literary, safety kids, climate change, stem and more. We teach about human rights and as a feminist organisation, we also teach about systems that protect gender inequality,” said Tulifau.

“We now have two Brown Girl Woke clubs — at the National University of Samoa and The University of the South Pacific.”

The performing arts has also become a safe space for Brown Girl Woke to raise awareness and provide a voice for young people.

‘Shame or blame’
“We would conduct workshops using songs, dance, spoken word poetry and skits. This is the way to tell their story and feel safe and supported, and unmasking themselves without feeling shame or blame,” she said.

Aside from supporting those affected by violence, Tulifau and her group of activists at BGW have also been helping with a range of issues such as sexual health, youth development, mental health, as well as awareness on the representation of women in Parliament.

The teams have also helped children in intensive care, funding scholarships for undergraduate students and providing monthly groceries for families in need in the  country.

Tulifau acknowledged the many donations and contributions to their cause over the years.

Leitu Fereti of Samoa is a final-year journalism student at USP’s Laucala campus. She is also a reporter for Wansolwara, USP Journalism’s flagship student journalist training newspaper and online publication. Asia Pacific Report and Wansolwara collaborate.

​A new business initiative in Aotearoa New Zealand aims to open up conversations about the benefits of kava on mental health.

Tongan entrepreneur ‘Anau Mesui-Henry and her photographer husband Todd Henry own Four Shells Kava Lounge in Auckland, creating a space for the community to use the Pacific Island drink to maintain its value and cultural identity.

They have started talanoa on kava and mental health in Auckland, Wellington and Gisborne.

• READ MORE:  Photoessay: Visual peregrinations in the realm of kava – Todd Henry
• Other kava reports

The couple say the KAVAX sessions bring in people from all walks of life, and they get to enjoy some authentic kava for the night.

Mesui-Henry says because it is talanoa, it is open for everyone to come together and speak.

“Not all people will open up and share, but it’s a safe space where they can come through, indulge in some kava and explore solutions on how we can heal using our Pasifika culture,” she says.

“It’s the mana in knowing your natural tāonga, a tool to help us as people to heal and the silent battles that we face.”

Pasifika tools to connect
Mesui-Henry says although organisations like the Mental Health Foundation are doing great work with the resources they have, a “white approach” will not work alone.

She says Pasifika people have the tools to connect through kava, and improve mental health.

Mesui-Henry says some of the misconceptions around kava they have to work on dispelling are that it is bad for you, it’s “muddy water”, or once it numbs you, you are drunk.

“We are a community grassroots kind of place, and knowing our cultural keystone, kava has a place in society.”

Kava is part of significant cultural practices in different Pacific Islands, is known internationally for its relaxing properties, and is used as a herbal remedy.

The website of the Alcohol and Drug Foundation NZ advises that if a large amount of kava is consumed the following effects may be experienced: drowsiness, nausea, loss of muscle control, mild fever and pupil dilation and red eyes.

It is legal to drink kava in New Zealand.

A Pacific Media Network News article under the Public Interest Journalism Fund. Republished with permission.

Former TVNZ Breakfast host Kamahl Santamaria, who quit following complaints about inappropriate workplace behaviour, has broken his silence and started a podcast he says would “set some records straight”.

The Emmy-nominated broadcaster lasted just 32 days at TVNZ after working at Al Jazeera, where he had also been accused of having sent a lewd email to a female colleague.

Speaking publicly for the first time in more than a year, Santamaria talked about the allegations, the effect they have had and how the reporting of them had led to his new website The Balance.

• READ MORE: Kamahl Santamaria – the official website
• Other Kamahl Santamaria reports

“It is very much informed and directed by my own experience over the past year, and yes I will be using it to set some records straight,” he told listeners in the first episode of his podcast, RE: Balance.

“Because in the end, I trust myself to tell my story.”

Santamaria said he had been a journalist for nearly 25 years, but for the last year had had to live with the label of being “a disgraced journalist”.

“That’s not a pleasant title to live with but that’s how it’s been ever since my departure from TVNZ in May of last year,” he said.

‘Full story yet to be told’
For legal reasons, Santamaria said he had not spoken about his departure from TVNZ — but he told listeners he would when he is able.

“The full story has definitely not been told, yet,” he said.

“The headline doesn’t always match the story, and countering that is a big part of what I’m embarking on with The Balance.

Santamaria said what happened had forced him to stop, look at himself and his behaviour in the past, and acknowledge there were times when he just got it wrong.

“I am deeply sorry for that and for the effect I have now learned that it had on others,” he said.

He said they also prompted him to look at the environments he was working in.

“What I failed to recognise was particularly in a post ‘Me Too’ world, there is just no place for over friendly, over-familiar, flirtatious, tactile behaviour or banter in the workplace no matter how friendly that workplace is or how prevalent that behaviour might be.

Mistakes impacted on health
“I’ve made mistakes but I hope my past doesn’t define who I am in the future.”

Santamaria said the effect on his mental health and that of his family has been “immense, dilapidating and long-lasting” and “it still goes on now”.

He revealed he had been in hiding for a year “growing a beard, always wearing a cap”, afraid to use his own name, and that he is on medication.

Santamaria referred to a report about his visit to the National Business Review, which he said was the “one time” we went out publicly and a journalist turned it into a story.

He said the journalist wrote about how uncomfortable he made people feel by just shaking their hands.

“The whole thing was utterly ridiculous to the point now where I don’t even shake people’s hands anymore.”

Santamaria disclosed that in the early stages, he had been on heavy medication during the day and sedation at night, and the family had him on a round-the-clock suicide watch.

He said he had been in no position, physically or mentally, to speak up for himself at the time.

“The fact that I am still here now is a testament to my family who kept me alive when I didn’t want to go on and they continue to do so,” he said.

First published by The New Zealand Herald and republished here with the author’s permission.

Paediatrician Dr Teuila Percival heads the list of Pacific recipients in the New Zealand King’s Birthday Honours List for 2023.

Dr Percival is one of at least 15 Pasifika people in New Zealand who are on the list. She is to be a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to health and the Pacific community.

For the past three decades she has been a strong advocate for Pacific children’s health in New Zealand and the Pacific.

• READ MORE: King’s Birthday Honours: Former NZ leader Jacinda Ardern receives high accolade
• King’s Birthday Honours: Kiwis recognised for service across fields from business to sport
• Other King’s Birthday Honours reports

Dr Percival said she felt honoured to get the award after getting over the initial surprise.

“I think it’s important for Pacific people to be recognised in the work they do, so it’s really nice in that respect,” she said.

“It’s just a great job, I love working with kids. I think children are the most important thing.”

Dr Percival was a founding member of South Seas Healthcare, a community health service for Pacific people in Auckland since 1999.

She has also been deployed to Pacific nations after natural disasters like to Samoa in 2009 after the tsunami and to Vanuatu in 2015 following cyclone Pam.

Education
Sacred Heart school counsellor Nua Silipa is to be an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to Pacific education.

Silipa said her experience struggling in the education system after immigrating from Samoa in 1962 had motivated her to help Pacific people in the classroom.

“When I look back now I think my journey was so hard as a minority in Christchurch,” Silipa said.

“It was a struggle because we weren’t in the classroom, the resources at that time were Janet and John . . .  so as a learner I really struggled.”

She said the “whole experience of underachievement” motivated her to help “people who are different in the system”.

“It’s not a one size fits all in education.”

Nua Silipa said she felt humbled to be a recipient on the King’s Birthday Honours List.

She said the award also honoured the people who had been involved in improving education for Pasifika.

“I know there’s so, so many other people who are doing work quietly every day, helping our communities and I’m really in awe of them.

“There are many unsung heroes out in our community doing work for our people.”

Technology
Mary Aue is to be a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to education, technology and Pacific and Māori communities.

Mary Aue is to be a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to education, technology and Pacific and Māori communities Photo: Supplied

In 1999, she launched Coconut Wireless as an e-newsletter for Pasifika reaching 10,000 subscribers. It relaunched in 2014 as a social media platform and now has over 300,000 Facebook followers.

“There was a disconnect between community and government agencies and there was a disconnect between our communities,” she said.

“There was no communication back then, so I created an e-newsletter.”

The name Coconut Wireless was based on the island concept as a fast way of communicating through word of mouth.

Aue has also been an advocate for more Pacific and Māori learners in science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM).

Aue said she was originally going to decline the award as there were a lot of people in the community who do not get recognised behind the scenes.

“I have to thank my family, my friends and the amazing community that we’re all part of.”

Sport
Teremoana Maua-Hodges said she “just about choked” on her cup of tea when she found out she had received the Queen’s Service Medal.

Maua-Hodges has been given the award for her contribution to sport and culture.

She said the award was the work of many people — including her parents — who travelled to New Zealand from the Cook Islands when she was a child.

“I’m very humbled by the award, but it’s not just me,” Maua-Hodges said.

“I stand on the shoulders of different heroes and heroines of our people in the community.

“It’s not my award, it’s our award.”

Maua-Hodges said the most important thing she had done was connect Cook Islanders.

“Uniting Cook Islanders who have come over from different islands in the Cook Islands and then to come here and be united here within their diversity makes me very proud.

“They’ve taken on the whole culture of Aotearoa but still as Cook Islanders . . .  to show their voice, to show their flag, in the land of milk and honey.”

The Queen’s Service Medal will be renamed the King’s Service Medal once the necessary processes are done, and the updated Royal Warrant is approved by King Charles.

Pasifika recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for 2022:

Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit: Dr Teuila Mary Percival — for services to health and the Pacific community.

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit: Nua Semuā Silipa — for services to Pacific education.

Honorary Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit: Meleane Pau’uvale — for services to the Tongan community and education.

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit:

Mary Puatuki Aue — for services to education, technology and Pacific and Māori communities.

Dr Ofanaite Ana Dewes — for services to health and the Pacific community.

Fa’atili Iosua Esera — for services to Pacific education.

Dr Siale Alokihakau Foliaki — for services to mental health and the Pacific community.

Keni Upokotea Moeroa — for services to the Cook Islands community.

Talalelei Senetenari Taufale — for services to Pacific health.

Dr Semisi Pouvalu Taumoepeau — for services to education and tourism.

Honorary Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit: Fa’amoana Ioane Luafutu — for services to arts and the Pacific community.

Queen’s Service Medal:

Joseph Davis — for services to the Fijian community.

Reverend Alofa Ta’ase Lale — for services to the community.

Teremoana Maua-Hodges — for services to sport and culture.

Putiani Upoko — for services to the Pacific community.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

A Pasifika health leader hopes the Royal Commission into the Covid-19 pandemic will look into the equity of the response and resource allocation.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday announced a Royal Commission into the government’s covid-19 response which will be chaired by Professor Tony Blakely, an epidemiologist working at the University of Melbourne.

He is joined by former National Party MP Hekia Parata, and the previous secretary to Treasury, John Whitehead, as commissioners.

• LISTEN TO RNZ MORNING REPORT: Pasifika Futures CEO Debbie Sorensen on the Royal Commission and the equity of communities
• NZ announces Royal Commission into government’s covid-19 response
• Domestic violence, isolation hit Pacific women during pandemic, says USP survey

Pasifika Futures chief executive Debbie Sorensen said Pasifika people were essentially left to form their own response during the earlier stages of the pandemic.

That was despite Pasifika people working a large proportion of jobs in MIQ facilities and at the airport and other front line locations, she said.

Many affected Pacific families experienced a great deal of hardship, she said.

It was important for the inquiry to look at the covid-19 response in regards to specific communities, she said.

Slowness of response
“We’re really clear that equity in the response and in the resource allocation is an important consideration.”

One issue was the slowness of the government’s response to both Pacific and Māori communities during the height of the pandemic, she said.

“Advice was provided to the government, you know cabinet papers provided advice on specific responses for our communities and that advice was ignored.”

An important aspect of the inquiry should be reviewing how that advice was given to the government, its response to it and how the government’s sought more information, she said.

The inquiry’s initial scope appeared to be very narrow, but it could be broadened as it went along, Sorensen said.

“The impact on mental health and the ongoing economic burden for our communities is immense — you know we have a whole generation of young people who have not continued their education because they were required to go in to work.”

Sorensen said often young people had to work because they were the only person in their family who had a job at that time due to covid-19.

Mental health demand
The pandemic also increased demand for mental health services which were already under pressure, she said.

Anyone who was unwell unlikely to be able to get an appointment within six to eight months which was shameful, she said.

Sorensen would have preferred the inquiry had been announced earlier, but it was an opportunity to better prepare for the future, she said.

But Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority, chief medical officer Dr Rawiri McKree Jansen told Morning Report he had some concerns that the probe into the covid-19 response was coming too soon to gain a full picture.

The pandemic was ongoing and starting the inquiry so early may obstruct a complete view of it, he said.

“I understand that there’s people champing at the bit and [saying] we should’ve done it before but it’s very difficult to do that and adequately learn the lessons.”

Understanding how to get a proper pandemic response was in everyone’s interest, but the pandemic was now still in its third wave, he said.

About to begin
Nevertheless, the inquiry was about to get underway and it could make a large contribution if it was done well, he said.

“I’m sure there will be many Māori communities that want to have voice in the inquiry and you know contribute to a better understanding of how we can manage pandemics really well.

“We’ve had pandemics before and they’ve been absolutely tragic. We’ve got this pandemic and the outcome for us is something like two to two-and-a-half times the rate of hospitalisations and deaths, so Māori communities are fundamentally very interested in bedding in the learnings that we’ve achieved in the pandemic.”

Dr Jansen hoped the inquiry would provide enduring information about managing pandemics with a very clear focus on Māori and how to support the best outcomes for the Māori population.

Inquiry’s goal next pandemic
The head of the Royal Commission said the review needed to put New Zealand in better position to respond next time a pandemic hits.

Professor Blakely said the breadth of experience and skills of the commissioners was welcome, and would help them to cover the wide scope of the Inquiry, ranging from the health response and legislative decisions, to the economic response.

Reviewing the response to the pandemic was a big job, he said.

“There’s already 75 reports done so far, I think about 1700 recommendations from those reports, New Zealand’s not the only country that’s been affected by this cause it’s a global epidemic, so there’s lots of other reports.”

The inquiry panel would have to sit at the top of all that work that had already been done “and pull it altogether from the perspective of Aotearoa New Zealand and what would help best there.

The inquiry needed to make New Zealand was prepared for a pandemic with good testing, good contact tracing and good tools that the Reserve Bank could use to support citizens in the time of a pandemic, Professor Blakely said.

“Our job is to try and create a situation where those tools are as good as possible, there’s frameworks to use when you’ve entered another pandemic, which will occur at some stage we just don’t know when.”

Professor Blakely said he was flying to New Zealand next week and would meet with Hekia Parata and John Whitehead to start thinking about the shape of the inquiry going forward.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

While some women at the University of the South Pacific’s 14 campuses found working from home enjoyable during the covid-19 pandemic, others felt isolated, had overwhelming mental challenges and some experienced domestic violence, a Pacific survey has found.

Titled “University Women Remote Work Challenges”, the survey was funded by the Council of Pacific Education (COPE) and was supported by the Association of the University of the South Pacific staff (AUSPS)

The research report, released last month, was conducted by Dr Hilary Smith (an honorary affiliate researcher at the Australian National University and Massey University) for the women’s wing of AUSPS.

• READ MORE: Other Pacific gender research

“This survey confirms that many of our university women had support from their family networks while on Work From Home, but others were left feeling very isolated,” said Rosalie Fatiaki, chair of the AUSPS women’s wing.

“Women with young children had a lot to juggle, and those who rely on the internet for work had particular frustrations — some had to wait until after midnight to get a strong enough signal,” she said.

Around 30 percent of respondents reported having developed covid-19 during the Work From Home periods, and 57 percent had lost a family member or close friend to covid-19 as well as co-morbidities.

In the survey there was also evidence of the “shadow pandemic” of domestic abuse and although the reported levels were low, it was likely the real incidence was much higher, said Dr Smith.

‘Feelings of shame’
“That was because of the feelings of shame (reporting domestic violence). In the Pacific Islands families and communities tend to be very close-knit groupings,” Dr Smith said.

Only two of the 14 USP campuses in 12 Pacific countries avoided any covid-19 closures between 2020 and 2022 — the shortest closure was two days in Tokelau and the longest at the three Fijian campuses of Laucala, Lautoka and Labasa lasting 161 days.

There had been no cases on the Tuvalu campus until the second quarter of this year.

“For women who had older children they said they enjoyed the time with their families,” Dr Smith said.

“And it was more difficult for those with young families,” she said.

She stressed the importance of being careful with the survey in relation to domestic violence.

“With this kind of survey, we had to be a little bit careful. We can’t say we got evidence of how much there is because it is a very tricky thing to survey and especially in this kind of survey,” Dr Smith said.

‘Sensitive issue’
“And because it is a sensitive issue and people tend not to identify and it is something that people tend to be ashamed about pretty much.

“The survey was totally confidential, and we set it up so no one would who the respondents were.

“It was impossible to find out through the ANU programme we used.

“But the fact people did give some evidence then I think that we know that it is actually quite significant, and we assumed that the prevalence was quite higher.”

She said that she was not saying there were more incidents, but from media reports, particularly in Fiji, she had suspicions that it was higher than reported in the survey.

“We were responding to the fact that there were other news reports in Fiji we referenced, and there has been the other report by the UN (United Nations) women about it,” she said.

The report “Measuring the Shadow Pandemic – violence against women during Covid-19” was released by the UN in December 2021 and the Violence Against Women Rapid Gender Assessments (VAW RGA) were implemented in 13 countries spanning all regions — Albania, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Nigeria, Paraguay, Thailand and Ukraine.

There was general support of national statistical offices (NSOs) or national women’s groups and funding from the policy and Melinda Gates Foundation, which found an incidence of 40 percent of reported domestic violence.

‘There in Pacific”
“So, we weren’t saying that it was more than in other countries, but we were saying it was there in the Pacific.

“It could be more, or it could be less but because the evidence had been already highlighted in Fiji, we were just picking up on that.”

AUSPS had specifically asked for it to be followed up because of “widespread murmuring” that domestic violence was occurring.

“My colleagues at USP had indicated they wanted to follow it up because they had heard that it was an issue for some women,” Dr Smith said.

In her recommendations she had suggested counselling for women and a safe space on campus, but she was unsure if it would be acted on.

Limited counselling
There was limited counselling available already and some had suggested that it should be done through religious denominations, she said.

She said internationally people had struggled with mental health issues during the pandemic, so it was common to all communities.

“There was a relatively high incidence in Fiji, and we reported the findings from the survey,” Dr Smith said.

Among the recommendations for support during isolation was the setting up of a helpline and regular calls from senior personnel and support staff.

She said even if this pandemic had passed there were other events like natural disasters, politics, and wars to be mindful of.

“Human-made or nature-made or the prevalence of other pandemics, we are basically saying the university should be prepared,” Dr Smith said.

Late last month, New Zealand Health Minister Andrew Little stated what most who work in health already know.

Healthcare is all about people – the people being cared for and the people doing the caring.

Population growth, ageing and a pandemic mean there is no shortage of those needing care, but in New Zealand and globally, there is a chronic shortage of healthcare workers.

• READ MORE: Nurses are leaving the profession, and replacing them won’t be easy
• A burnt-out health workforce impacts patient care

Little stopped short of calling it a crisis, but researchers and international agencies alike agree with a survey of New Zealand doctors that the health workforce is in crisis.

In 2016, the World Health Organisation (WHO) projected a global shortage of 18 million healthcare workers by 2030. That was before the covid-19 pandemic. Between 80,000 and 180,000 healthcare workers have died globally during the pandemic’s first 16 months, according to the WHO’s conservative estimate.

“Public statements from political leaders that there is ‘no crisis’ in the health system have seemed increasingly out of step with doctors’ experience over the past year” https://t.co/dXMhA38XIO

— Emma Espiner (@emmawehipeihana) July 11, 2022

Add to this the impact the pandemic has had on the mental health of frontline health staff, including reports of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and a healthcare workforce seven times more likely to have severe covid and now carrying the burden of long covid.

It’s clear healthcare is no longer the attractive sector it once was.

A highly mobile workforce and a global shortage
Like the cost-of-living crisis, the health workforce shortage is not unique to Aotearoa New Zealand.

This year’s budget included NZ$76 million for medical training and primary care specialists, but doctors who started training this year will not be specialists until 2034.

Meanwhile, Labour’s solution is to undertake an international recruitment drive. It is hailing New Zealand as one of the easiest places in the world for healthcare workers to come to. But are our newly opened borders attractive enough?

Overseas recruitment drive for nurses gains ‘good response’ https://t.co/RZrM4fW67L

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) July 13, 2022

In my health economics lectures I often use an anecdote about the Indian doctor who gets a job in the UK (colonial ties and a multicultural society), the British doctor who moves to Canada (less administration and more family friendly hours), the Canadian doctor who moves to the United States (specialists have much higher earning potential), and the US doctor who undertakes missionary work in India.

This highlights two issues: the health workforce is highly mobile and employment isn’t always about money. Aotearoa New Zealand is competing in a global health workforce market, and minister Little recently acknowledged the health sector as “fiercely competitive”.

But this isn’t a new phenomenon for New Zealand.

The health workforce in New Zealand has one of the largest shares of migrant workers, with 42 percent of doctors and almost 30 percent of nurses foreign-born (second only to Israel and Ireland, respectively). This is much higher than the aggregate estimates showing one in six doctors practicing in OECD countries studied overseas.

The OECD estimates the number of foreign-born doctors and nurses in OECD countries has increased by 20 percent, twice the growth rate of the overall increase across the workforce. This is what is most concerning.

The health workforce is not equally distributed. Migration of workers from low- and middle-income countries to high-income countries like Aotearoa New Zealand is a real threat to achieving universal health coverage and sustainable development goals.

New Zealand needs to be mindful that promoting our open borders is not at the expense of under-performing health systems with much greater need.

Losing healthcare workers to Australia
Outflow is also a problem in New Zealand, with New Zealand-trained doctors and nurses crossing the Tasman every year. Add to this the international recruits leaving New Zealand for Australia and there most definitely is a health workforce crisis.

As our nearest neighbour, Australia is aggressively recruiting staff. And like pavlova and Phar Lap they are happy to claim what is ours as theirs. An easier route to citizenship and voting rights will make Australia even more desirable.

How can New Zealand compete in this market? Minister Little refers to encouraging New Zealanders to return home, including lifting their pay. Research shows it’s not all about income. Location and professional development opportunities are important factors when choosing career moves.

The healthcare reforms helped tempt me back to New Zealand after 22 years away. Perhaps working in a system which has equity as its focus may encourage those who are clinically trained to return as well.

There is considerable research to inform policies around retention and recruitment. The New Zealand Ministry of Health may wish to look to the UK, which was historically dependent on EU health and care workers and now has a health workforce depleted by both Brexit and the pandemic.

In the recent LSE-Lancet Commission on the future of the NHS, British scholars argued a sustainable workforce needed integrated approaches to be developed alongside reforms to education and training that reflect changes in roles and the skill mix, and more multidisciplinary working.

The LSE-Lancet Commission authors flagged the need for better workforce planning. New Zealand’s approach to workforce forecasting has also been criticised previously.

Planning aside, a possible solution worthy of discussion is the required skill mix of the workforce, particularly with technological advancements and changing health needs. For example, the introduction of non-medical prescribers has improved job satisfaction, released clinical time and increased patient access.

New Zealand’s once-in-a-generation health reforms offer a logical time to undertake workforce reforms. We need to learn from our own historical mistakes and avoid disconnecting the workforce from the policy reforms.

If minister Little and the ministry are to solve this, he will first need to admit there is a health workforce crisis.

Aotearoa New Zealand is unfortunately not alone in its quest to adequately staff healthcare, but the transformation of the health sector to create a more equitable, accessible, cohesive and people-centred system means New Zealand is uniquely placed to put those people who deliver care at the centre.

Dr Paula Lorgelly is professor of health economics, University of Auckland. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

As workers on the ground running ourselves into the ground, it’s quite disheartening to read all the reactionary criticism of MIQ, the managed isolation and quarantine system which has saved thousands of lives in New Zealand.

It’s easy not to appreciate what it has achieved, given it has prevented something awful from happening, and only see the restrictions and disadvantages it has necessarily caused by its existence.

Also, most of the people who have been spared from severe illness are not the ones who are complaining.

• READ MORE: Other reports on NZ’s response to covid-19
• 120 protesters at NZ’s Parliament arrested as tension grows on third day

I am so impressed with the small and dedicated MIQ teams I have worked with — a throw-together of excellent nurses, health care assistants, well-being coordinators, security, hotel staff, police and the impressive NZ Defence Force.

These people are gold and the cornerstone of preventing a certain healthcare system crisis.

They have retained great professionalism in the face of numerous extremely challenging guests and logistics around dealing with covid positive cases while keeping them as happy as can be in a confined space.

Currently we are full of overseas border returnees from all over the world, many angry at being in isolation and taking it out on our staff, to the point where absenteeism is common and job satisfaction has dipped hugely.

Staggering towards MIQ end
We are all staggering towards the end of the MIQ system, rather punch drunk and weary.

Our staff currently receive relentless angry calls from guests who don’t get what they want immediately, currently often the investigation of potential historical covid status (of which there are dozens presently), more than one expressing “there will be blood on the walls” if their immediate demands are not met.

I can understand why to a degree — they are stuck in a room and can’t see the huge amount of work going on behind the scenes, with teams putting in long tiring days, well over their paid hours, but unfortunately it also brings out the worst in some people of certain personality types and those with mental health issues.

Also I must add that a majority of people are able to “just get on with it” and do the time, something most of us would find tedious.

There is a financial cost to saving lives in any area of healthcare and now it has been deemed the harms of MIQ outweigh the benefits, rightly in my and most people’s opinion, as covid spreads in the community and borders open up.

If only we could have the same political will and public acceptance that we have had for lockdown and vaccination programme to put preventative health measures and laws to address the two other huge elephants in the room, our chronic disease epidemic and environmental crises.

Firm beneficial health laws
We could reduce our health spending by orders of magnitude while greatly improving health if we had some firm laws for clearly beneficial proposals such as sugar and fat taxes, and the marketing of harmful, processed foods and alcohol, especially at our children.

We could equally slash our carbon emissions whilst raising health outcomes with the promotion of a plant based type of diet, as per the current international public health consensus.

We just need to be brave, follow the science and not give in to the numerous interest group detractors. Our world beating covid response has shown we can do it.

Let’s keep the momentum up and not go back to our pre-covid slumber.

Dr Mark Craig is an Auckland-based lifestyle medicine doctor working in managed isolation and quarantine facilities. This article was first published in the New Zealand Herald and is republished here with the author’s permission.

Whether the leaders of Papua New Guinea realise it or not, sorcery is a big social issue.

It is wreaking havoc while politicians seem to look on in disdain.

If there is a law on sorcery, it is being disregarded at will.

• READ MORE: Other PNG sorcery reports
• Rebecca Kuku’s front page report

It means perpetrators of sorcery torture and killings are making a laughing stock out of the country’s laws and they seem to be winning.

The world has been watching Papua New Guinea and is laughing away on how we are handling this issue.

We have gone down this low into the holes.

As recent as two weeks ago, SBS Queensland ran a documentary by a reporter from CNN who visited Papua New Guinea to report on the problem sorcery is causing.

Image of PNG tainted
That is how far this matter has gone.

Yet our lack of response makes it look all that bad.

The image of the country has been tainted by this nonsense.

Sorcery accusation related violence (SARV) killings are nothing more than murder, the way it is happening. Since sorcery cannot be proven, it is being used as an excuse for wanton murder.

Yet no one sees murder except sorcery.

It is an excuse not to do anything to curb the problem because we’re afraid. We’re afraid, not of sorcery but what the perpetrators might do to us.

These people, we say, are terrorist.

They have gained notoriety because of the barbaric way in which the victims have been treated.

— PNG Post-Courier

These people, we say, are terrorist.

They have gained notoriety because of the barbaric way in which the victims have been treated.

That is the root of the fear.

If the sorcery law is vague and ambiguous, what about murder?

What about terrorism?

Murder and terrorism crippling society
Is murder and terrorism crippling society that we blame sorcery as the easy way out and ignore it?

This matter has been raised before.

But no one is changing because lives are being lost or ruined and no one seems to care.

Women especially are being targeted so there must be people who have deep hatred for women.

They could be sick in the head.

We say the perpetrators should not only be locked up when they are rounded up, they should also undergo a check on their mental condition.

If mental health issues are on the rise, you cannot send mentally deranged people to prison; they must be sent to a prison of their own.

Tribal enmity creeping in
It would also appear that tribal enmity is creeping into the so-called sorcery killings and it is a payback in disguise.

Payback killings are well known in PNG so why are we naïve about it?

If they are not payback, slap murder charges on the perpetrators and they go through the process of being innocent until proven guilty.

If there is no evidence of sorcery but the victims are being killed on suspicion, then the same can be said of people who are suspected of being behind the killings.

The way the law is being implied here makes the criminal law and justice system look like a page taken from a primitive tribe’s book of reasoning.

Let’s not bury our head in the sand on this and hope the problem will go away.

It won’t go away by itself so leaders; get your head out of the sand and take action.

We see murder here.

We see terrorism.

What do you see?

If women are not to be protected, the future development and progress of the country will crawl at snail’s pace until we come to our senses.

This PNG Post-Courier editorial was published on 12 January 2022 under the original title “Sorcery issue has gone way out of control”. Republished with permission.

In this week’s security podcast, Dr Paul G. Buchanan and host Selwyn Manning discuss:

• three areas that have been relied on to protect New Zealanders from terror-style attacks;
• legal measures designed to protect communities from danger and even protect individuals from themselves;
• and why they failed.

The background to this episode is the tragic, terrifying, attack that were committed against unarmed innocent people at West Auckland’s LynnMall Countdown supermarket, by Ahamed Aathill Mohamed Samsudeen.

• READ MORE: Other reports about NZ’s LynnMall attack

The attack occurred last Friday, 3 September 2021. It ended with the hospitalisation of seven people, and, the death of Samsudeen, who was fatally shot by special tactics police officers during his attempt to kill and injure as many people as he could.

Immediately after, the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told the nation that the dead man was a terrorist and that she herself, the police, and the courts were all aware of how dangerous he was and had been seeking to protect New Zealand from this man.

Within days of the attacks, we learned, that Samsudeen was a troubled man with psychologists describing him as angry, capable of carrying out his threats, and displaying varying degrees of mental illness and disorder.

Refugee who sought asylum
Samsudeen was a refugee who sought asylum in New Zealand after experiencing, through his formative years civil war and ethnic cleansing in Sri Lanka, who, at around 20 years of age, arrived in New Zealand on a student visa and then sought political asylum.

He was eventually granted refugee status, and since then spent years in prison on various charges and convictions – largely involving the possession of terrorist propaganda seeded on the internet by Islamic State (ISIS), and, threats showing intent to commit terrorist acts against New Zealanders.

In this week’s episode, Dr Buchanan and Manning examine questions about whether this tragedy could have been prevented and considered New Zealand’s:

• Security and terror laws
• Deportation laws involving those with refugee status
• The Mental Health Act and whether this was available to the authorities.

Dr Buchanan and Manning also analyse whether it is necessary for the New Zealand government to move to tighten New Zealand’s terrorism security laws. And, if it does, how the intended new laws compare to other Five Eyes member countries.

• More information about the A View From Afar weekly podcasts on EveningReport.nz

Republished in partnership with EveningReport.nz

An Australian criminologist who deemed the New Zealand shopping mall attacker “low risk” in 2018 believes there were missed opportunities to steer him away from violent extremism.

Ahamed Samsudeen was described as a high risk to the community when he was sentenced in July for possessing Islamic State propaganda — with the means and motivation to commit violent acts.

However, three years earlier, Australian National University criminologist Dr Clarke Jones told the High Court Ahamed did not appear to be violent and did not fit the profile of a young Muslim person who had been radicalised.

• READ MORE: ‘I’m not afraid of terrorism. I’m afraid of being accused of being a terrorist’ – growing up Muslim after 9/11
• Auckland terror attacker ‘brainwashed’ by neighbours, mother says
• Other reports on the NZ terror attack

At the time Dr Jones suggested “a carefully designed, culturally sensitive and closely supervised intervention programme in the Auckland Muslim community”.

Now, he said, it was unclear how much rehabilitation actually took place.

“People can change, sometimes quickly, sometimes over a longer period of time. But back in 2018, we didn’t think that he was violent,” he explained.

At the time Samsudeen appeared to feel marginalised and disconnected, Dr Clarke said, like he couldn’t “get his foot up” in society.

‘Rigid life views’
“Some of the material he was reading was of concern and he had fairly rigid views around religion and around life in general. But he’d also had some experience in difficult times and was, I would argue, deeply depressed.”

On Friday, Samsudeen walked into a Countdown supermarket in LynnMall, picked up a knife and stabbed at least shoppers, leaving some of them critically injured, before he was shot dead by tactical force police tailing him.

In the High Court in July, Samsudeen had admitted two charges of using a document for pecuniary advantage, two charges of knowingly distributing restricted material and one charge of failing to assist the police in their exercise of a search power.

Another expert was consulted — forensic psychiatrist Dr Jeremy Skipworth — who echoed Dr Clarke’ concerns.

“Dr Skipworth said that any form of home detention would tend to further exacerbate your mental health concerns, and that your successful community reintegration is likely to be assisted by cornerstones, such as stable housing, personal support, appropriate employment and medical care,” reads Justice Wylie’s sentencing notes.

Justice Wylie imposed a sentence of supervision, with special conditions, including a psychological assessment and a rehabilitation programme with a service called Just Community.

Dr Jones said he really would like to know more about what support Samsudeen was actually given in Corrections.

‘Was he responsive?’
“Was he responsive to that treatment, if he was receiving any treatment at all, or was the focus more on on the security side and the monitoring and the surveillance?”

Asked if the terrorist had enough support to “get better”, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said there had been attempts to change the man’s mind — and none of them were successful.

But in a family statement released after the attack, Samsudeen’s brother said he sometimes listened.

“He would hang up the phone on us when we told him to forget about all of the issues he was obsessed with. Then he would call us back again himself when he realised he was wrong.

“Aathil was wrong again [on Friday]. Of course we feel very sad that he could not be saved. The prisons and the situation was hard on him and he did not have any support. He told us he was assaulted there.”

Dr Clarke said, “I would say that we haven’t got the balance right. In this case there was too much focus on the counter-terrorism or counter violent extremism narrative, rather than actually getting to the core of what was wrong with Mr Samsudeen.”

“We can always improve the way we do things to have have greater preventative sort of mechanisms within government, police and communities.”

Dr Clarke said what happened in LynnMall was a tragedy and a terrible situation.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke at today’s 1pm press conference about the importance of mental health and support services in the community during New Zealand’s delta covid-19 outbreak.

“Having positive cases in our communities, along with the impact of lockdowns I know can be hugely unsettling, and that uncertainty can impact on everyone’s mental health,” she said.

“It’s OK to feel overwhelmed, to feel upset or even to feel frustrated, because this situation is often all of those things. But there are places you can go for support and help, even while you’re living with restrictions.”

• READ MORE: Covid-19 update: 83 new community cases reported in New Zealand
• Other NZ covid lockdown reports

The Ministry of Health and Unite Against Covid websites have a list of resources, Ardern said.

“These include tools targeted at young people, who may be finding this time challenging, in particular those isolating in hostels or halls of residence.”

Calls to health services and use of online services have risen during lockdown.

“We know for instance that early on in the lockdown there was a spike in calls to Youthline,” Ardern said, and the government has since boosted their funding by $275,000.

Extra $1m for community health projects
An additional $1 million in funding was announced today by Health Minister Andrew Little for community projects to support youth mental health in Auckland and Northland.

Ardern listed several different helplines available (see full RNZ list).

“There is also targeted mental health support available to Pacific Communities via a dedicated 0800 number: 0800 OLA LELEI 0800-652-535,” Ardern said.

Episodes of family violence have been reported during lockdown around the country.

“Family violence and sexual violence services are considered essential services and are continuing to operate at level 4,” Ardern said.

“If you feel you’re in an unsafe environment, you do not need to stay in your home or in your bubble. If you’re not safe at home you can leave your bubble. If you feel in danger, call 111.

“If you or someone you know is in danger and it is not safe to talk, police have the silent solution, phone 111 and if you do not speak you’ll get the option of pressing 55, you can then listen carefully to the call-taker’s questions and instructions so they can arrange assistance for you.”

There is also support for those struggling to access food.

“Yesterday we announced an additional $7 million for food security networks operating at alert level 4. The additional funding will help with the distribution of an additional 60,000 food parcels, and 10,000 wellbeing packs,” Ardern said.

83 community cases
There have been 83 new community cases of covid-19 reported in New Zealand today.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said 82 of the new cases are in Auckland, with one new case in Wellington. The Wellington case was a close contact of an existing case, and was in isolation with no exposure in the community while infectious.

Dr Bloomfield said 34 people are now in New Zealand hospitals with the coronavirus, including two people in ICU. All are in a stable condition.

Three of those cases are in North Shore Hospital, 18 in Middlemore Hospital, 13 in Auckland City Hospital, while one is in Wellington Regional Hospital. Dr Bloomfield said the hospitalisation rate in this outbreak is 6-7 percent which is higher than previous outbreaks.

The total number of confirmed cases associated with the Auckland outbreak is now 511 – 496 in Auckland and 15 in Wellington.

Dr Bloomfield said more than 60 percent of cases are under 30.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

As we write this article, the delta strain of covid-19 is reminding the world the pandemic is far from over, with millions of Australians in lockdown and infection rates outpacing a global vaccination effort.

In the northern hemisphere, record breaking temperatures in the form of heat domes recently caused uncontrollable “firebombs”, while unprecedented floods disrupted millions of people.

Hundreds of lives have been lost due to heat stress, drownings and fire.

• READ MORE: The rise of ‘eco-anxiety’: climate change affects our mental health, too
• In a landmark judgment, the Federal Court found the environment minister has a duty of care to young people
• New polling shows 79 percent of Aussies care about climate change. So why doesn’t the government listen?

The twin catastrophic threats of climate change and a pandemic have created an “epoch of incredulity”. It’s not surprising many Australians are struggling to cope.

During the pandemic’s first wave in 2020, we collected nationwide data from 5483 adults across Australia on how climate change affects their mental health. In our new paper, we found that while Australians are concerned about covid-19, they were almost three times more concerned about climate change.

That Australians are very worried about climate change is not a new finding. But our study goes further, warning of an impending epidemic of mental health related disorders such as eco-anxiety, climate disaster-related post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and future-orientated despair.

Which Australians are most worried?
We asked Australians to compare their concerns about climate change, covid, retirement, health, ageing and employment, using a four-point scale (responses ranging from “not a problem” to “very much a problem”).

A high level of concern about climate change was reported across the whole population regardless of gender, age, or residential location (city or rural, disadvantaged or affluent areas). Women, young adults, the well-off, and those in their middle years (aged 35 to 54) showed the highest levels of concern about climate change.

The latter group (aged 35 to 54) may be particularly worried because they are, or plan to become, parents and may be concerned about the future for their children.

The high level of concern among young Australians (aged 18 to 34) is not surprising, as they’re inheriting the greatest existential crisis faced by any generation. This age group have shown their concern through numerous campaigns such as the School Strike 4 Climate, and several successful litigations.

Of the people we surveyed in more affluent groups, 78 percent reported a high level of worry. But climate change was still very much a problem for those outside this group (42 percent) when compared to covid-related worry (27 percent).

We also found many of those who directly experienced a climate-related disaster — bushfires, floods, extreme heat waves — reported symptoms consistent with PTSD. This includes recurrent memories of the trauma event, feeling on guard, easily startled and nightmares.

Others reported significant pre-trauma and eco-anxiety symptoms. These include recurrent nightmares about future trauma, poor concentration, insomnia, tearfulness, despair and relationship and work difficulties.

Overall, we found the inevitability of climate threats limit Australians’ ability to feel optimistic about their future, more so than their anxieties about COVID.

How are people managing their climate worry?
Our research also provides insights into what people are doing to manage their mental health in the face of the impending threat of climate change.

Rather than seeking professional mental health support such as counsellors or psychologists, many Australians said they were self-prescribing their own remedies, such as being in natural environments (67 percent) and taking positive climate action (83 percent), where possible.

Many said they strengthen their resilience through individual action (such as limiting their plastic use), joining community action (such as volunteering), or joining advocacy efforts to influence policy and raise awareness.

Indeed, our research from earlier this year showed environmental volunteering has mental health benefits, such as improving connection to place and learning more about the environment.

It’s both ironic and understandable Australians want to be in natural environments to lessen their climate-related anxiety. Events such as the mega fires of 2019 and 2020 may be renewing Australians’ understanding and appreciation of nature’s value in enhancing the quality of their lives.

There is now ample research showing green spaces improve psychological well-being.

An impending epidemic
Our research illuminates the profound, growing mental health burden on Australians.

As the global temperature rises and climate-related disasters escalate in frequency and severity, this mental health burden will likely worsen. More people will suffer symptoms of PTSD, eco-anxiety, and more.

Of great concern is that people are not seeking professional mental health care to cope with climate change concern. Rather, they are finding their own solutions. The lack of effective climate change policy and action from the Australian government is also likely adding to the collective despair.

As Harriet Ingle and Michael Mikulewicz — a neuropsychologist and a human geographer from the UK — wrote in their 2020 paper:

For many, the ominous reality of climate change results in feelings of powerlessness to improve the situation, leaving them with an unresolved sense of loss, helplessness, and frustration.

It is imperative public health responses addressing climate change at the individual, community, and policy levels, are put into place. Governments need to respond to the health sector’s calls for effective climate related responses, to prevent a looming mental health crisis.

If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline in Australia on 13 11 14.

By Dr Rhonda Garad, senior lecturer and research fellow in Knowledge Translation, Monash University; Dr Joanne Enticott, senior research fellow, Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation (MCHRI), Monash University, and Dr Rebecca Patrick, director, Sustainable Health Network, Deakin University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

A Fijian psychologist is calling on people in Fiji to work together to tackle issues associated with mental health amid the covid-19 pandemic.

Addressing a prayer vigil to remember the victims of suicide in Suva, Dr Selina Kuruleca said people must assist one another and reach out to those struggling due to the pandemic.

The Health Ministry says about 90 Fijians have died from suicide this year while there have been 82 attempted suicides.

Dr Kuruleca, who is chair of the National Committee on Prevention of Suicide in Fiji, said suicides were responsible for the majority of deaths of younger Fijians.

“The highest number of deaths in young people or youths between the ages of 15 to 29 is deaths by suicide. These are preventable deaths. There are more deaths from suicides than there are from road accidents or drowning,” Dr Kuruleca said.

Dr Kuruleca urged community and church leaders to reach out to their members and help those suffering depression or other mental health-related issues.

Fiji marked International Suicide Prevention Day last week with September named the country’s Mental Health month.

Traumatic for those left behind
Last week’s vigil was organised by Lifeline and supported by Psychiatric Survivors Association, Youth Champs for Mental Health and the Fiji Council of Social Services.

Speaking at the vigil, Dr Kuruleca said death from suicide was traumatic for all those left behind and it should never be an option.

She encouraged those present at the event to support those families that had been impacted by the suicide of a loved one.

Dr Kuruleca urged people not to judge but show action that they cared for them.

“Make a commitment today to be persistent in your compassion, to be genuine in your advocacy and to be mindful of our realities,” she said.

“Everyone needs to work together – from Empower Pacific, Lifeline, youth champs for mental health, medical services pacific, women’s crisis centre, women’s rights movement, the LGBTQI community and of course, our faith-based organisations.

“We all have a part to play and we must play it.”

The theme of the Mental Health Month is Working Together, she said.

• Fijians who need help can call the 24-hour child helpline on 1325, domestic violence on 1560, Lifeline on 132454 and Empower Pacific on 7765626 if they need counselling or want to talk to a counsellor.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

The covid-19 coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown has been tough on the mental wellbeing of Asian New Zealanders, according to new research.

The New Zealand Asian Mental Health and Well-being report, commissioned by charity Asian Family Services, found high levels of anxiety and nervousness, as well as racism.

The research surveyed 580 Asian New Zealanders across the country and found almost 44 percent of them experienced some form of mental distress since level 4 lockdown.

READ MORE: Al Jazeera coronavirus live updates – Global death toll passes half a million

• PM Ardern on isolation issues – ‘We have to fix it’
• Two covid-19 cases on French Polynesian quarantine

Nervousness and anxiety are the most widely experienced (57 percent), followed by little interest or pleasure in doing things (55.2 percent), uncontrollable worrying (47.4 percent) and feeling down and hopeless (44 percent).

Asian Family Services director Kelly Feng said isolation, lack of support, family issues, academic or work pressure, new migrants adjusting to a new environment can all cause mental stress.

She said the findings correlate to what they were seeing on the ground.

“That’s quite true when over the lockdown, our service has also experienced high demand about emotional support and counselling services.”

Help primarily from friends
The report also finds that Asians primarily seek help from friends (44.1 percent) and family (42.6 percent), with just over a quarter (28.3 percent) saying they would see their doctor, comparing with the national figure of 69 percent according to the Health Promotion Agency.

A small portion (13.8 percent) did not seek any support at all, and Feng said it was concerning.

“That gives me an indication that we really need to promote or even do a campaign about mental wellbeing and addiction issues and raise awareness among Asian communities so people can seek help in the early stage and get a bit of early intervention rather than at the bottom of the cliff,” she said.

Just over 16 percent of respondents reported experiencing racial discrimination during the pandemic, and those who faced discrimination were also more likely to have mental health concerns.

Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon said the findings were alarming.

“I feel gutted and sad that people are receiving discrimination and racism. It doesn’t matter what the numbers are. It’s really important that we continue to try and implement progress in systems and education to eliminate racism,” he said.

“It’s good to have an analysis report on mental health and discrimination. I think there’s a lot of work to do ahead of us. It’s good to know where we can actually target our resources to support mental health.”

Kindness message helped
The study said the overall messaging of being kind to one another during the pandemic has likely contributed to the relatively low percentage of discrimination.

But Dr Andrew Zhu, director of Trace Research which carried out the study, said it was still serious.

“On a percentage base, it’s relatively small which means we’re on the way to achieving racial harmony, however if you translate this number into a population-based number, that’s around 84,000 adult population of Asian ethnicity which could still be counted as serious,” he said.

Koreans reported to have experienced discrimination the most, with 30 percent of those surveyed saying they’ve been discriminated against, followed by Chinese at just over 22 percent.

However, Chinese accounted for nearly half of the overall discrimination cases as it has the largest population base among all Asian ethnicities.

Data for this study was collected online between May 22 and June 3, and quota sampling was used to ensure representativeness of all Asian ethnic groups according to the 2018 census of Asian adult population distribution.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Thousands of employees internationally are already working from home in COVID-19 self-isolation because of their recent travel, related symptoms or immune system vulnerability.

But to do so while habitually checking the news on devices – and allowing 24/7 news channels to play non-stop in the background – might erode your productivity and increase stress and anxiety.

A foundational element of media literacy in the digital era is striking an appropriate balance between news consumption and other activities. Even before the current crises, Australian research demonstrated news avoidance had risen among news consumers from 57 percent in 2017 to 62 percent in 2019, driven by a sense of news fatigue.

READ MORE: How peace journalism can help the media cover elections in Africa

• Al Jazeera’s coronavirus global updates – Italy overtakes China’s death toll
• RNZ’s coronavirus updates – $900m in loans to help Air New Zealand
• RNZ coronavirus timeline

Self-help expert Rolf Dobelli implores us to stop reading the news. While he advocates going cold turkey and abandoning all packaged news consumption, Dobelli makes exceptions for long-form journalism and documentaries.

So too does philosopher Alain de Botton in The News – A User’s Manual, while proposing more positive news and journalism’s examination of life’s deeper issues, emotions and aesthetics.

In journalism education there has been a move towards “peace journalism”, “mindful journalism”, “constructive journalism” and “solutions journalism”, where the news should not merely report what is wrong but suggest ways to fix it.

Of course, it would be a mistake to abstain from all news during the COVID-19 pandemic and its unpredictable economic and social consequences.

Often it is best to navigate a middle path, so here are five suggestions on how you can stay in the loop at home while you get your work done – and help maintain your mental health.

1. Switch off
Avoid the 24/7 news channels and feeds unless it is your business to do so, or unless the information is likely to impact on you directly.

Try to develop a routine of checking in on the main headlines once, twice or three times a day so you stay informed about the most important events without being sucked into the vortex of click bait and news of incremental changes in the number of coronavirus cases or the ups and downs of the stock markets.

2. Dive deep
Look for long-form journalism and in-depth commentary on the topics that most interest you. Articles by experts (Editor’s note: like those in The Conversation!) include the most important facts you need to know, and are likely to have a constructive angle presenting incisive analysis and a pathway to a solution or best practice.

On radio and television, look for big picture current affairs programmes like the ABC’s AM and 7.30 – or on a lighter and more positive note Ten’s The Project – so you don’t have to be assaulted by a disturbing litany of petrol station hold-ups, motorway chases and celebrity gossip in the packaged morning and evening news.

3. Connect
Use social media wisely – for communicating with family and friends when you might be physically isolated and by following authoritative sources if something in the news is affecting your life directly, such as emergency services during cyclones, fires and floods.

But avoid the suggested and sponsored news feeds with dubious and unfiltered information (often shared as spam by social media illiterates).

Keep your social media commentary civil, empathetic and supportive – mindful of everyone’s mental health during a crisis.

4. Interrogate
Ask the key question: “What is the best source of the information I absolutely need to know?”

Go to primary sources where possible. Subscribe to official and authoritative information feeds – for example, daily summaries from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Commonwealth Department of Health on COVID-19 and your preferred bank’s summary reports on the sharemarket and economic indicators.

5. Be mindful
Bear in mind the well being of any children in your household with the timing and selection of your hard/live news consumption. International research has shown more constructive news stories have fewer negative mental health impacts on children, particularly when combined with the opportunity to discuss the contents with their peers.

Finally, you might also use these crises to build your own media literacy – by pausing to reflect carefully upon what news you really need in your family’s life. This might vary markedly according to your work, interests and passions.

For many of us it will mean a much more critical diet of what we call “traditional hard news” – allowing us the time to read and view material that better contributes to the quality of our own lives and to our varied roles as informed citizens.

Dr Mark Pearson is professor of journalism and social media at Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University, Griffith University. He is also a research associate of the Pacific Media Centre and on the editorial board of Pacific Journalism Review. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

In 1886, a year before American journalist Nellie Bly feigned insanity to enter an asylum in New York and became a household name, Catherine Hay Thomson arrived at the entrance of Kew Asylum in Melbourne on “a hot grey morning with a lowering sky”.

Hay Thomson’s two-part article, The Female Side of Kew Asylum for The Argus newspaper revealed the conditions women endured in Melbourne’s public institutions.

Her articles were controversial, engaging, empathetic, and most likely the first known by an Australian female undercover journalist.

READ MORE: 10 days in a madhouse, by Nellie Bly

A ‘female vagabond’
Hay Thomson was accused of being a spy by Kew Asylum’s supervising doctor. The Bulletin called her “the female vagabond”, a reference to Melbourne’s famed undercover reporter of a decade earlier, Julian Thomas.

But she was not after notoriety.

Unlike Bly and her ambitious contemporaries who turned to “stunt journalism” to escape the boredom of the women’s pages – one of the few avenues open to women newspaper writers – Hay Thomson was initially a teacher and ran schools with her mother in Melbourne and Ballarat.

In 1876, she became one of the first female students to sit for the matriculation exam at Melbourne University, though women weren’t allowed to study at the university until 1880.

Going undercover
Hay Thomson’s series for The Argus began in March 1886 with a piece entitled The Inner Life of the Melbourne Hospital. She secured work as an assistant nurse at Melbourne Hospital (now The Royal Melbourne Hospital) which was under scrutiny for high running costs and an abnormally high patient death rate.

Her articles increased the pressure. She observed that the assistant nurses were untrained, worked largely as cleaners for poor pay in unsanitary conditions, slept in overcrowded dormitories and survived on the same food as the patients, which she described in stomach-turning detail.

The hospital linen was dirty, she reported, dinner tins and jugs were washed in the patients’ bathroom where poultices were also made, doctors did not wash their hands between patients.

Writing about a young woman caring for her dying friend, a 21-year-old impoverished single mother, Hay Thomson observed them “clinging together through all fortunes” and added that “no man can say that friendship between women is an impossibility”.

The Argus editorial called for the setting up of a “ladies’ committee” to oversee the cooking and cleaning. Formal nursing training was introduced in Victoria three years later.

Kew Asylum
Hay Thomson’s next series, about women’s treatment in the Kew Asylum, was published in March and April 1886.

Her articles predate Ten Days in a Madhouse written by Nellie Bly (born Elizabeth Cochran) for Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World.

While working in the asylum for a fortnight, Hay Thomson witnessed overcrowding, understaffing, a lack of training, and a need for woman physicians. Most of all, the reporter saw that many in the asylum suffered from institutionalisation rather than illness.

She described “the girl with the lovely hair” who endured chronic ear pain and was believed to be delusional. The writer countered “her pain is most probably real”.

Observing another patient, Hay Thomson wrote:

She requires to be guarded – saved from herself; but at the same time, she requires treatment … I have no hesitation in saying that the kind of treatment she needs is unattainable in Kew Asylum.

The day before the first asylum article was published, Hay Thomson gave evidence to the final sitting of Victoria’s Royal Commission on Asylums for the Insane and Inebriate, pre-empting what was to come in The Argus. Among the Commission’s final recommendations was that a new governing board should supervise appointments and training and appoint “lady physicians” for the female wards.

Suffer the little children
In May 1886, An Infant Asylum written “by a Visitor” was published. The institution was a place where mothers – unwed and impoverished – could reside until their babies were weaned and later adopted out.

Hay Thomson reserved her harshest criticism for the absent fathers:

These women … have to bear the burden unaided, all the weight of shame, remorse, and toil, [while] the other partner in the sin goes scot free.

For another article, Among the Blind: Victorian Asylum and School, she worked as an assistant needlewoman and called for talented music students at the school to be allowed to sit exams.

In A Penitent’s Life in the Magdalen Asylum, Hay Thomson supported nuns’ efforts to help women at the Abbotsford Convent, most of whom were not residents because they were “fallen”, she explained, but for reasons including alcoholism, old age and destitution.

Suffrage and leadership
Hay Thomson helped found the Austral Salon of Women, Literature and the Arts in January 1890 and the National Council of Women of Victoria. Both organisations are still celebrating and campaigning for women.

Throughout, she continued writing, becoming Table Talk magazine’s music and social critic.

In 1899 she became editor of The Sun: An Australian Journal for the Home and Society, which she bought with Evelyn Gough. Hay Thomson also gave a series of lectures titled Women in Politics.

A Melbourne hotel maintains that Hay Thomson’s private residence was secretly on the fourth floor of Collins Street’s Rialto building around this time.

Home and back
After selling The Sun, Hay Thomson returned to her birth city, Glasgow, Scotland, and to a precarious freelance career for English magazines such as Cassell’s.

Despite her own declining fortunes, she brought attention to writer and friend Grace Jennings Carmichael’s three young sons, who had been stranded in a Northampton poorhouse for six years following their mother’s death from pneumonia.

After Hay Thomson’s article in The Argus, the Victorian government granted them free passage home.

Hay Thomson eschewed the conformity of marriage but tied the knot back in Melbourne in 1918, aged 72. The wedding at the Women Writer’s Club to Thomas Floyd Legge, culminated “a romance of 40 years ago”. Mrs Legge, as she became, died in Cheltenham in 1928, only nine years later.

Dr Kerrie Davies is a lecturer in the School of the Arts & Media, UNSW, and Dr Willa McDonald is a senior lecturer at Macquarie University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Amnesty International today warned that the failure of governments to tackle climate change could amount to the greatest inter-generational human rights violation in history. a

The London-based rights organisation welcomed a global day of school strikes against climate change planned for tomorrow by young people.

“Amnesty International stands with all children and young people who are organising and taking part in school strikes for climate action,” said Amnesty International’s secretary-general Kumi Naidoo.

READ MORE: Students striking from school for a safe climate future

This is an important social justice movement that is mobilising thousands of people to peacefully call on governments to stop climate change.

“It is unfortunate that children have to sacrifice days of learning in school to demand that adults do the right thing.

“However, they know the consequences of the current shameful inaction both for themselves and future generations. This should be a moment for stark self-reflection by our political class.

“Instead of criticising young people for taking part in these protests, like some misguided politicians have done, we should be asking why governments are getting away with playing truant on climate action.”

Devastating impacts
Amnesty International warned that climate change was having and would have even more devastating impacts on human rights unless governments acted now to change course.

Climate change especially affects people who are already vulnerable, disadvantaged or subject to discrimination, the organisation said.

“Children especially are more vulnerable to climate-related impacts, due to their specific metabolism, physiology and developmental needs,” Amnesty said in a statement.

“Climate change also poses a risk to their mental health; children exposed to traumatic events such as natural disasters, exacerbated by climate change, can suffer from post-traumatic stress disorders.”

Naidoo said: “Climate change is a human rights issue precisely because of the impact it is having on people. It compounds and magnifies existing inequalities, and it is children who will grow up to see its increasingly frightening effects.

“The fact that most governments have barely lifted a finger in response to our mutually assured destruction amounts to one of the greatest inter-generational human rights violations in history.”

Millions of people are already suffering from its catastrophic effects – from prolonged drought in sub-Saharan Africa to devastating tropical storms sweeping across South-east Asia and the Caribbean.

Devastating heatwaves
During the summer months for the northern hemisphere in 2018, communities from the Arctic Circle to Greece, Japan, Pakistan and the USA experienced devastating heatwaves and wildfires that killed and injured hundreds of people.

“Children are often told they are ‘tomorrow’s leaders’. But if they wait until ‘tomorrow’ there may not be a future in which to lead. Young people are putting their leaders to shame with the passion and determination they are showing to fight this crucial battle now,”  Naidoo said.

The latest pledges made by governments to mitigate climate change— which are yet to be implemented—are completely inadequate as they would lead to a catastrophic 3°C increase in average global temperatures over pre-industrial levels by 2100.

Amnesty International calls on states to scale up climate action substantially and to do so in a manner consistent with human rights.

One of the crucial ways this can happen is if people most affected by climate change, such as children and young people, are engaged in efforts to address and mitigate climate change, while being provided with the necessary information and education to participate meaningfully in such discussions, and included in decision-making that directly affects them.

“Every day that we allow climate change to get worse ultimately makes it harder to stop and reverse its catastrophic effects. There is nothing stopping governments from doing everything in their power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the shortest possible time-frame.

“There is nothing stopping them from finding ways to halve emissions from their 2010 levels by 2030, and to net-zero by 2050, as climate scientists have called for,” said Naidoo.

“The only thing standing in the way of protecting humanity from climate change is the fact that our leaders lack the political will and have barely tried. Politicians can keep making excuses for their inaction, but nature does not negotiate. They must listen to young people and take steps today to stop climate change, because the alternative is unthinkable.”

#Strike4Climate

Tikanga-based mahi toi and mental wellbeing come together in an Auckland artist’s work with pounamu and bone.

Maha Tomo, of Ngai Tahu, Rangitane, Tainui, and Ngāti Kauwhata, fuses indigenous values, education, and art in his carving workshops designed with mental health and rangatahi at its forefront.

Tomo says his workshops, run in schools and communities in East, West and South Auckland, are his way of giving back after his own struggles as a young person with mental health and addiction.

“I always thought if I ever got through my challenges that I would pay it forward and show gratitude by sharing my knowledge with others.

“I’ll always remember those who helped me, and hopefully I can be the same beacon of light to others,” he says.

Tomo’s passion for carving came from a young age after his grandfather gave him a bone carving from the South Island. The idea of combining mental wellness and art came to him when he was studying a Bachelor of Creative Arts at Manukau Institute of Technology.

“When I wasn’t studying, I was working a lot with people going through major challenges in their lives.

Creating wellness
“That’s where the component of creating wellness in my workshops came from because I studied cross-cultural supervision and mental health and other addictions as well.”

Tomo promotes wellbeing in his workshops by integrating indigenous and modern knowledge and concepts. He teaches from a Māori perspective, incorporating values such as tikanga (process), whakawhanaungatanga (togetherness), manaakitanga (support), and wairauatanga (spiritual resilience).

“There is a definite resurgence in pounamu and the interest in indigenous platforms as wellness strategies.

“I like to incorporate a lot of both worlds – taking the best of mainstream education but also adding those beautiful aspects of indigenous learning.”

He says his dedication to sharing indigenous ways of teaching through traditional values comes from learning from other community leaders. His experiences with rangatahi in schools also play a role.

“Working on these workshops, I find a lot of young people are kinesthetic learners that learn through actually doing rather than perhaps studying for a test.

“I see art as a vehicle moving forward that I can use to support mental health within the community and young people that are challenged by mainstream techniques of teaching.

“There’s nothing wrong with mainstream; I think it works well for many. But, for the ones getting left behind, I see my mahi with pounamu and with bone as a safety net that might catch some of the learners that are struggling. I’m just here to provide a safe environment,” says Tomo.

Irra Lee is a second year student journalist in the Bachelor of Communication Studies degree at Auckland University of Technology.

Two New Zealand activists have raised thousands of dollars through crowdfunding after an Israeli court fined them for their role in singer Lorde cancelling her show in Tel Aviv, but they plan to donate the money to Gaza Mental Health Foundation instead, reports Al Jazeera.

Justine Sachs and Nadia Abu Shanab have rejected the legal action which ordered them to pay over $12,000 in damages for causing mental harm to three Israeli teenagers who had purchased tickets to the concert.

The duo turned to a crowdfunding website raising more than $33,000 with 705 donors by today.

READ MORE: NZ activists fined for Lorde cancellation raise funds for Gaza charity

The defendants wrote on Friday on fundraising website Give A Little that they had no intention of complying with the Israeli ruling.

“We will not be paying the court ordered amount. Instead, we would like to redirect the support extended to us back to Palestinians in need of mental health support,” they wrote, adding that the money would go to the Gaza Mental Health Foundation.

“Emotional distress is a lived reality for Palestinians in Gaza, where over half of children suffer PTSD as a result of Israeli military attacks,” the activists wrote.

Abu Shanab of Palestinian descent told RNZ that the pair were not prepared for the amount of international attention they would receive.

‘Sense of responsibility’
She said the pair had been “struck with a sense of responsibility”.

“Israel has chosen to make an example of us,” Abu Shanab said.

The lawsuit, filed in January, is the first ruling to cite a controversial 2011 Israeli anti-boycott law that allows civil action against entities who call for a boycott of the state as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Palestinians in Gaza face mounting mental health crisis

Activists behind the BDS movement say it is inspired by the campaign that targeted South Africa’s apartheid regime.

“Playing in Tel Aviv will be seen as giving support to the policies of the Israeli government, even if you make no comment on the political situation,” the activists wrote in their letter to Lorde in December.

The singer responded on Twitter, saying the concerns had been “Noted!”

Days later, the 21-year-old New Zealander cancelled the performance which was due to conclude her Melodrama world tour, saying she “didn’t make the right call” in her initial willingness to sing in Tel Aviv.

Israel sees BDS as a strategic threat and accuses it of anti-Semitism – a claim activists firmly deny, calling it an attempt to discredit them.

Artists who have participated in the cultural boycott of Israel through the Palestinian-led BDS movement include Brian Eno and Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, writers Arundhati Roy and Eduardo Galeano, and filmmaker Ken Loach.

• Justine and Nadia’s Give a Little webpage

Health and human rights advocates fear the mental ill-health of refugees on Nauru could worsen following the Pacific government’s move to scrap a vital support service.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF – Médecins Sans Frontières) was told on Friday its free psychological and psychiatric services, provided to both Nauruans and refugees since November 2017, were “no longer required”.

The medical aid agency was given 24 hours to cease operations which is comprised of a clinic at the Republic of Nauru Hospital and home visits.

READ MORE: Manus and Nauru background and updates

The organisation indicated a desire to find a way to continue its work, reports Australian Associated Press.

“At this stage MSF wishes to reiterate our strong commitment to providing quality mental health care to all those in need on the island,” a spokesperson said.

“We are extremely concerned that the health of our patients may be affected by this decision and urge the authorities to grant us permission to continue our lifesaving work.”

The abrupt dismissal follows a report by two prominent Australian refugee organisations saying most refugee children on Nauru are experiencing life-threatening mental health problems, including not eating or drinking and showing suicidal symptoms.

‘Add to distress’
Advocacy group Refugee Action Coalition said MSF’s absence would “add enormously to the distress among asylum seekers and refugees” because the Australian government’s contracted mental health care provider, International Health and Medical Services, was “stretched to breaking point”.

The Department of Home Affairs said on Saturday MSF’s dismissal was a matter for the Nauruan government and that it would continue to provide “appropriate healthcare and mental health support to refugees and asylum seekers through contracted service providers”.

MSF uses more than 30,000 doctors, nurses and other mostly volunteer personnel to provide medical aid in more than 70 countries.

• Nauru government evicts Médecins Sans Frontières from the island

Fiji is already struggling to cope with the aftermath from the recent tropical cyclone Winston, other storms and the impact of climate change, but suicide among youth is also becoming a major concern for parents and communities.

Suicide became a national issue in Fiji last year when fresh statistics showed worrying trends. Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama showed his concern for the increasing rate of suicide cases, especially among youth.

Bainimarama said that counselling services and initiatives already existed in Fiji, but he would ask every branch of government to improve its response to youth suicide.

Last year, there were 89 cases of suicide from January to September, which had 10 cases of children aged under 16. Also, there were more than 20 people aged between 17 and 25 years who had committed suicide during the same time.

However, this issue has some deeper roots back into the 1990s.

Peter M. Forster (UK), Selina C. Kuruleca (Fiji) and C. R. Auxier (USA) published a report named A Note on Recent Trends in Suicide in Fiji in 2007 in the Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology. They collected suicide data from Adinkrah who reported in 1995 and from Booth who reported in the years 1997 and 1999.

They had cited that the “standardised” annual rate of suicide for the year 2002 at 15 per 100,000 population for male and 11 for females.

Current scenario
Government has launched National Child Helpline since last January in partnership with the Medical Services Pacific (MSP).

People in need for counselling are provided a toll free number 1325 to talk with trained counsellors. It is a 24-hour helpline.

“We have got almost 7000 calls since last September,” says Peci Baladrokadroka, a senior counsellor in MSP.

Naina Ragigia, a Fiji Police Force spokesperson, shows her concern because the force receives many calls related to suicide cases as well.

“The Fiji Police Force receives an average of 5 reports of suicide in a month. Most reports of suicide cases received are only attempted suicide, which is much higher than the suicide cases.”

People from different age groups, starting from 5 to 70 are attempting suicide.

“We have noticed young people around the age of 12-23 years are mostly victims of suicide cases,” says Ragigia.

Reasons for suicide
There are so many reasons ranging from child neglect to poverty which are leading people to commit suicide in Fiji.

“In young people, child neglect, sexual abuse and physical abuse are one of the major reasons,” says Peci Baladrokadroka.

Ragigia says that in some cases children are disappointed by his or her own parents.

“A 10-year-old boy was playing outside his home. His mother scolded him to come home and study. But that boy took this in a different way; he locked himself in his room and eventually hanged himself.

“Children from the young ages of 12 years are now committing this offence which is indeed a sad thing,” she said.

Entertainment programmes on television and radio are also contributing.

“Last year we had a case of 12-year-old girl. She was trying to mimic a scene [of a suicide] from the movie, but ended up dead instead,” says Ragigia.

Breaking points
For the young students career and good grade are also one of the major breaking points.

Matthew Galuvakadua works as a volunteer at Youth Champs for Mental Health.

“Family expectations put extreme pressure on young children, especially when exams are a concern,” he says.

Galuvakadua has been working with this organisation for the past four years. The group mainly focuses on suicide prevention for young people in Fiji and tries to reduce the stigma associated with it, especially people living with mental illness.

Apart from this, relationships and family issues are also among major reasons for suicide. Peci says that drugs, alcohol, educational needs and poverty also contribute.

The issue is becoming more serious each year and the government, with the help of local organisations and NGOs, is trying to deal with the suicide cases, but results are disappointing.

Reluctant over information
“When Asia Pacific Report tried to contact different organisations for statistical data and information, they were reluctant to give any details.

Ragigia says suicide is a very sensitive issue and how foreign media might present the scenario is difficult to judge.

“Organisations seem to be reluctant over this particular issue because they don’t want Fiji to be represented in a wrong way.”

Peci says the government is running many awareness programmes with different organisations.

The Fiji police also conducts various awareness programmes for the general community.

They have a fine relationship with the local health authorities.

Frequent check-ups
“The Fiji police is fortunate to have services of our local health authorities for offering a frequent medical check-up for the victims and there are also counselling services offered from local NGOs that we are able to refer to the victims for counselling purposes,” says Ragigia.

However, Galuvakadua thinks that the government should be more involved with mental health organisations.

“Government should work and form better relationships with existing mental health service providers in the community,” he says.

Galuvakadua also shows his concern about lack of rehabilitation centres in Fiji.

“The Community Recovery Outreach Programme is the only functioning rehabilitation programme that refers people at-risk from suicide to people living with mental illness, sending them to St Giles Hospital in Fiji.”

He hopes to see an improvement in the months ahead.

Ami Dhabuwala is a postgraduate student journalist at AUT University. She is reporting on the Asia-Pacific Journalism course and is currently in Fiji.

Fiji’s National Child Helpline – ring 1325

Estimates of the number of war deaths attributable to the Bougainville civil war vary considerably, but a figure of between 15,000 and 20,000 appears to be most widely accepted in Bougainville.

Most deaths involved civilians.

Other events relevant to mental health were the displacement of more than half of Bougainville’s population; the perpetration of wide-scale human rights abuses; undermining of the traditional authority of elders and women, cultural values and relationships; property damage; and major disruptions to education and the economy.

Absence of epidemiological data, with the exception of information regarding domestic violence and sexual assault limits the extent to which the prevalence of the problems identified can be specified.

Nevertheless, Beleh (a local politician) and Sr Garasu (a Catholic Nun) reported that they had identified 232 ex-combatants as manifesting one or more mental health problems arising from the conflict in one of Bougainville’s 33 political constituencies.

Those who were children or adolescents during the war (“the lost generation”) were reported as having limited education, a lack of engagement in traditional values and activities and displaying aberrant behaviours all of which contribute to their marginalisation in the community.

Many of this group experienced events during the war likely to have been traumatic and, while the numbers who continue to be impacted by these experiences is yet to be determined, an expatriate Marist Brother teacher/counsellor noted that most of 50 male students he taught had been involved in combat and appeared to be suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

Substance abuse
Various reports, largely based on community perceptions, have highlighted the detrimental effects of the conflict on subsequent risk of substance abuse.

Gender-based violence, including sexual violence, is considered a significant issue in Bougainville and thought to continue at a higher rate compared to that prior to the war.

The number of people missing presumed to have died during the war is unknown, but the inability to conduct customary burial ceremonies was reported as resulting in complicated grief for the surviving relatives and as having broader impacts, including land title and use issues.

Meetings with senior police personnel highlighted the difficulties the police force experience in carrying out their duties among a community impacted by the war and its aftermath and by some officers who continue to be impacted by their personal war experiences.

People continue to be displaced since the war and family separation, separation from traditional land, insecure living circumstances and the strain on host communities/families were reported as continuing impacts.

Finally, our informants reported a trans-generational impact on those born after the war through their exposure to a range of trauma-related aberrant behaviours displayed by parents and within the community at large.

Collectively, the mental health issues identified were described as having a broad impact on the social fabric of Bougainville society and, indirectly, on economic recovery.

Broad consensus
There was a broad consensus concerning the priority need to address mental health issues to reduce the distress experienced by individuals and the burden of associated disturbed behaviours on families, community, health services, the police, the judiciary and educational institutions.

The overarching view of our informants was that addressing mental health issues, particularly trauma related aberrant behaviours, had the potential to: assist in healing relationships damaged during and since the conflict; support efforts to maintain and enhance the peace process; and encourage the re-engagement of those affected in purposeful and productive family, community and economic activity.

It was recognised that, in addition to the need for mental health and psycho-social services, traditional reconciliation ceremonies in which perpetrators compensate victims might play a complementary role in achieving healing for sides of the conflict.

While a range of government and non-government services, agencies and groups are confronted by mental health issues in their daily work, only a few agencies are specifically focused on assisting people with these problems.

Two such agencies are the Nazareth Centre, which provides refuge for women and other survivors of family violence, youth who have substance abuse issues and treatment for former combatants; and the Leitana Nehan Women’s Development Agency, which provides counselling and referral related to gender based violence, trauma-related awareness raising programs and training for community based organisations.

In addition to the limited number of trained staff to address mental health issues across Bougainville, there are minimal resources to attend to people with severe mental disorders including those with psychotic disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other psychotic disorders), neuropsychiatric conditions/brain disorders, severe mood disorders and chronic traumatic stress disorders that are typically found in low-income, post-conflict settings.

At the time of writing, there is only one mental health nurse for the total Bougainville population of 254,000. Patients referred to the national hospital are assessed and treated by the mental health nurse supported by hospital physicians, noting that the hospital is distant from and difficult to access from many areas of Bougainville.

Limited options
The only options for care for the more severely disturbed patients referred to the hospital are short-term accommodation in a centre designed principally to provide refuge for women experiencing domestic violence; being held in police cells with criminal offenders; or being transported by air (with medical and police escort) to the national capital, Port Moresby, for specialist treatment.

The inadequacies of the system add credence to observer reports that the mentally ill are at risk of neglect (and in some cases abuse) throughout Bougainville.

This brief overview indicates that while key individuals and agencies have worked valiantly over many years to address mental health and psycho-social issues, it is evident that the capacity within Bougainville to address them is severely limited relative to the demand.

On the positive side, important facilitating factors were made evident. A clear recognition of the need to address mental health was identified throughout the consultation process as was a strong interest in building Bougainville’s capacity to address these needs and the government’s interest in developing the necessary supportive policy and legislative framework.

This report was first published on Keith Jackson’s PNG Attitude blog.