Problem: In January 2022, Kiribati experienced widespread community transmission of COVID-19, leading to high rates of infection among health-care workers (HCWs), which reduced essential HCWs during a period of increased hospital admissions. Context: Kiribati, a Pacific island country made up of a remote group of 33 low-lying atolls in the Pacific Ocean, experienced its first surge of COVID-19 cases beginning on 24 January 2022. Action: Reports of increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases in South Tarawa prompted the Kiribati Ministry of Health and Medical Services to request assistance from the international community, including the World Health Organization’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), to support national COVID-19 response operations. Specialists in infection prevention and control (IPC) were deployed to Kiribati in February 2022 to assist the Ministry’s National COVID-19 Taskforce in collaboration with national partners. These specialists helped review and strengthen IPC capacities to accommodate a potential patient surge and consequent demands for medical consumables in health-care facilities in South Tarawa. Outcome: Strengthened knowledge about and processes for IPC among HCWs prevented health care-associated infections and reduced community disease transmission during the first surge of COVID-19 cases in Kiribati. Discussion: GOARN has the capacity and ability to rapidly deploy experts to support requests for assistance. Outbreak response activities can be enhanced and sustained by using GOARN’s resources and collaborating with all partners, as necessary.

This article describes the development of a formal national Emergency Medical Team (EMT) in the Republic of Kiribati. It details how Kiribati’s Ministry of Health & Medical Services committed to establishing this deployable clinical response capability, and how support from the World Health Organization and United States Agency for International Development enabled the establishment of the Kiribati Medical Assistance Team, or KIRIMAT.

Objective: To collect evidence on the exposure, awareness and effct of ‘junk food’ advertising and sponsorship upon children and adolescents in Fiji. Method: A questionnaire was developed and used with a sample 88 primary school students and 103 secondary school students in Suva, Fiji and included questions about participants’ food preferences, nutritional knowledge and advert recall ability. Two free-to-air television channels were recorded for two weekdays and two weekend days from 6am-9pm, and the content analysed for advertised content. The amount of street advertisements in three defied localities was assessed. Sponsorship of events by ‘junk food’ products was assessed over the preceding twelve month period. Results: School children were able to identify multiple food products they had seen advertised. 94% reported that seeing adverts makes them want to try products. Seventy one percent had asked others to buy advertised products for them. There was evidence that food advertising contributed to incorrect nutrition beliefs. Levels of street and television advertising for ‘junk foods’ were high. Fourteen events sponsored by ‘junk food’ products were found to have taken place within one year of the investigation. Conclusions: Children in Suva remember but misunderstand the nutritional value of advertised ‘junk foods’. Their diets are altered detrimentally as a result. Implications: There is a need for a regulatory approach to limit ‘junk food’ advertising in Fiji.