More from Giff Johnson

Risk factors in the Pacific are feeding a pipeline of potentially expensive-to-treat NCDs, but governments are already fiscally constrained in how much more they can offer. Counteracting the diabetes crisis requires innovative partnerships and new thinking, writes Giff Johnson.

The challenge facing political leaders in north Pacific countries is starting or continuing to implement minimum reforms and building momentum for ‘good governance’ that can help improve delivery of health and social services, while increasing the quality of life for citizens in these nations.

The breakdown of traditional family systems is accelerating, with migration from remote outer islands to the urban centers and urban poverty that is deepening each year. A growing problem of this nature requires a whole of government approach, with policy focus rather than a band-aid response.

If trust funds are inadequate as predicted, the FSM and RMI will face economic chaos in 2024. A variety of outside advisors have urged the islands to bolster the trust funds with additional investments from funds that could be saved through reform.

Scientists have warned for several years that tuna is being overfished at its maximum level of sustainable exploitation. The message is clear: fewer boats and cutbacks in tonnage caught must be implemented. But can the region’s Tuna Commission reach a united agreement?

Unless the Marshall Islands takes up the challenge to gain U.S. Congress support for expanded compensation and medical programs with an organized and systematic campaign of action, there is little hope that the U.S. Congress will ever on its own resolve the U.S. government’s nuclear test legacy.