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7th Bilateral Health Summit of the two Samoas will now be a 2-year event

ASG Health director Motusa Tuileama Nua posed for a Samoa News photo at last Friday’s closing of the three-day Bilateral Health Summit at the Gov. Rex Lee Auditorium.  [photo: AF]
Health issues shared marks the summit’s success for both Samoa going forward
fili@samoanews.com

At the conclusion last Friday of the three-day 7th Bilateral Health Summit of the two Samoas, delegates from American Samoa and Samoa agreed that the summit will be held every two years and a steering committee has been appointed to continue health meetings for the two Samoas.

This year’s summit was hosted by American Samoa at the Gov. H. Rex Lee Auditorium with some 30-plus delegates from Samoa headed by the Samoa government Associate Minister of Health, Salausa Dr. John Ah Ching, who had worked for many years at LBJ Medical Center before returning to Samoa.

The summit closed last Friday afternoon and ASG Health Director Motusa Tuileama Nua told Samoa News thereafter that the annual meeting was a success, adding it’s difficult for American Samoa to proceed on it’s own on areas of health care, without knowing the health issues faced by “our families, friends, brothers and sisters” in Samoa.

He said this is the same situation with Samoa, in which the independent state can’t go forward with these matters without knowing what’s impacting and effecting American Samoa — because the two Samoas are bonded through, among other things, culture and family, despite different political status.

“Working together, and walking the same path together” lessens the burden on each country when it comes to health issues, he said, adding that health officials of the two Samoa continue to carry out the work in their respective jurisdiction and share with each other during the summit and going forward, all for the goal “for the benefit our people”.

At the conclusion of the summit, Motusa said it was agreed that while each jurisdiction carries out their responsibilities and duties on health matters, the annual summit, which began in 2010, will now be held every two years (which means the next one will be in 2018).

However, he says a steering committee, with members from both Samoas, will meet to discuss, among other things, areas that have been achieved since the last summit and issues to be address going forward.

Motusa reiterated in the Samoa News interview what he told he audience during the opening ceremony last Wednesday and that is “Rome was not build in one day” and that while many areas of health care has been addressed in the last seven years, there is still more to be done and all of it cannot be done in one-day.

Therefore, during the years that the health summit is not held, the steering committee will meet to continue “discussions on ways, going forward” to address and find solutions for a healthy lives for the people of the two Samoas, he said.

At last Friday’s closing ceremony, Salausa spoke on behalf of the Samoa government and the Samoa delegation, thanking the host, American Samoa, for their hospitality and the good treatment extended to them. Speaking in Samoan, he said, Thank you from the bottom of our hearts”

And to kick off a fun and happy closing ceremony, after an intense three days of panel discussions and hearing from a wide range of presenters on health issues, Salausa recalled an event where a man spoke to the gathering saying, “I thank you all from the bottom of my heart” and then the man remembered his wife sitting next to him and quick added, “and my wife’s bottom, too”. That prompted loud laughter, from the audience — Samoa News for some reason clocked the laughter, it lasted for 20 seconds.

On a serious note, Salausa said the summit is the only chance that all sectors of communities — health professions, policy makers, lawmakers, traditional leaders — in the two Samoas come together to discuss and find solutions to further improve the health care for its people.

Of this year’s theme: “Saving Money, Saving Time, and Saving Life”, Salausa said the theme means, to him, is to “spend money wisely, use time wisely, and use your life wisely.” He said the two Samoas do not have much in economic resources, such as money, and “many times we have plans but we... lack financial resources.”

“We plan for money that we don’t even have and we depend on off island money to implement our needs,” he said and asked, what else can be done? “The answer is we depend on ourselves. And how is that achieved? he asked, and replied, “Through sacrifice”.

“When we have to sacrifice our time, you may have to sacrifice your own money, and sacrifice your family time to improve the health care of your community,” he told the audience. “When you sacrifice your time, you sacrifice your money for the benefit of your fellow men that is what we call the ‘act of faith’.”

And the “act of faith” is rewarded by the Heavenly Father, who has many ways of giving the person rewards and blessings, Salausa said and noted that such rewards may not be through the person’s paycheck, but through the person’s children, through the person’s family and other work the person does — including a job promotion.

“And that is our Christian belief and our Samoan way of life — your families, church, and our culture... therefore, sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice. And don’t worry about the rewards, there are many ways that God gives you blessings and rewards,” he said.

During the three days of the summit, participants came together to “once again discuss and share ideas on health priorities and challenges that are at the heart of preventable and untimely deaths in our countries,” Salausa said.

“The dialogue in areas such as non-communicable diseases (NDCs) in particular cancer, rheumatic heart disease, mental health has certainly given us all a lot of new ideas in moving forward,” he told participants.

Additionally, the “very strategic discussions on the real issues behind these challenges that present themselves everyday to our hospitals include late detection of NCDs such as cancer, rheumatic heart disease, substance abuse, domestic violence as well as communicable diseases in particular, the persistence of filariasis and other mosquito-borne diseases, have been intense.”

“This includes practical and doable strategies which are culturally sensitive and appropriate given our evolving environment in our communities,” Salausa said. “These strategies, ideas, and models have been shared freely.”

“And I am certain that this will ultimately benefit the health and well-being of our people,” he said.

Speaking at the closing ceremony on behalf of American Samoa was Manu’a District Governor Misaalefua Hudson, who gave brief remarks in Samoan, said the importance of the summit to him is that the delegates are working on finding solutions to ensure “we are safe and healthy”. He also noted the findings reached during the summit will certainly improve the health of the people of the two Samoas and suggested that summit officials share these findings with the general public.