World Health Organization (WHO) | SPC Public Health Division

March 20 2020

The COVID-19 outbreak that started in early December 2019 has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020. It means that the number of affected countries increased, including Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs). It doesn’t mean, however, that the virus has become more infectious or more deadly.

February 21 2020

Nursery and midwifery challenges and the leadership capacity of these disciplines must be strengthened at a national, regional & international level. This was the call from participants at the inaugural Pacific Heads of Nursing & Midwifery Meeting (PHoNM) held from the 11-14th of February in Nadi.

Thirteen Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) attended the PHoNM alongside nursing stakeholders and regional and international partners.

February 14 2020

The Pacific Community (SPC) is closely monitoringCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak that started in the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province, China early December 2019 and continues to grow. Our Public Health Division (PHD) works in close collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) as part of the multi-agency Incident Management Team (IMT) which has been set up to support and guide Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs) in their preparedness, surveillance and response activities.

February 5 2020

The Heads of Nursing from Pacific Island Countries and Territories will convene in Nadi, Fiji from the 11th- 13th of February 2020 for the inaugural Pacific Heads of Nurses (PHoN) Meeting. This is the first time such a meeting has taken place, reflecting the increasing recognition of the essential role nurses play in Pacific health services.

PPHSN: 3rd Project Steering Committee Meeting

Project for Strengthening the Services of the Pacific Public Health Surveillance Network (PPHSN)

The key objective of the meeting is to update the Project Steering Committee of the recent developments in project implementation and to make recommendations about the services and initiatives to the PPHSN Coordinating Body.

23rd Pacific Public Health Surveillance Network Coordinating Body Meeting

The key objective of the meeting is to review, discuss and make recommendations about PPHSN services (PacNet, LabNet, EpiNet, PICNet, PSSS and SHIP/DDM capacity development programme) to Pacific Heads of Health.

The Pacific Health Information Network Meeting on Digital Health and Health Information Systems Strengthening in the Pacific (PHIN)

The Pacific Health Information Network (PHIN) was established at the Health Metrics Network (HMN) meeting in Noumea in 2006. Since then, various workshops and meetings have been held across the Pacific region. PHIN was created to provide a mechanism for networking, support, information sharing and training for people working as health information professionals in the region. The PHIN Executive Board is interested in assessing the network's role, impact and sustainability in strengthening health information systems (HIS) in the Pacific.

August 14 2018

A sub-regional training workshop for health surveillance and laboratory professionals aiming at strengthening influenza surveillance in the Pacific was held in Suva (Fiji) last week.Surveillance and laboratory professionals from thirteen Pacific countries, together with regional experts, reviewed existing national systems, identified challenges and discussed ways to strengthen the syndromic and virological surveillance of influenza.

October 16 2016

Public health, clinical and laboratory professionals across Vanuatu convened in Port Vila this week to reinforce their outbreak investigation skills with the Pacific Data for Decision-Making (DDM) training programme.

This is the second DDM training module organised this year by the Vanuatu Ministry of Health and the Pacific Community (SPC), in collaboration with Hunter New England (HNE) Local Health District Population Health from Australia.

August 30 2017

Health ministers from 20 Pacific island countries and areas convened yesterday in the Cook Islands for the 12th Pacific Health Ministers Meeting. The biennial gathering seeks to reaffirm the importance of the Healthy Islands vision in promoting and protecting the health of the Pacific islands people.

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