Tonga

Tea was hit by a 15-year-old driver while crossing the road 10 days ago, suffering critical injuries including a cracked skull.

She is now barely able to see, struggling to eat liquid food from a spoon and her family is unsure how bad her injuries are. 

"We're devastated. She's the love of our life," Tea's aunt Tea Brimigion says.

Tea's been operated on at Vailolo Hospital on Tonga's main island of Tongatapu and showing signs of progress.

That's the call from regional media watchdog Pacific Freedom Forum (PFF) as months of controversy continue at Tonga's public broadcaster, the Tonga Broadcasting Commission.

“Government needs to stop using so-called losses as an excuse to apply punitive changes aimed at gagging newsroom and management in a leading public broadcaster of the region”, says PFF Chair Monica Miller.

“Informing the public about what is happening with their own tax dollars is a key role of state broadcasters, who are not faced by the profit-margin pressures of commercial broadcasters.

Several other people are admitted in hospital with injuries sustained in the crash in Neiafu on Saturday.

Kaniva News reports two of the deceased are from Leimatu’a while the third victim is from Makave.

Police are yet to provide details about the accident.

Vava’u 16 Member of Parliamentarian, Akosita Lavalava visited the victims in hospital.

She has described the accident as ‘shocking” and its impact as though “darkness fell” unexpectedly on the victims’ families and their houses.

Photo Kaniva News 

Massey University's Sione Vaka spent most of his career researching cultural understandings of mental health and the use of appropriate tools.

Dr Vaka is in Tonga attending the country's first mental health symposium and said the biggest problem sufferers have was dealing with cultural stigma.

"That there might be something wrong that the family has done, some sort of sin or some sort of curse that happens to them," he said.

Minister for Environment (Ministry of MEIDECC) Poasi Tei launched the project, along with CEO Paula Ma'u and CEO's of Tourism Emeline Tu'ita and Fisheries CEO Dr. Tu’ikolongahau Halafihi.

The project was funded by the Tonga R2R Project under UNDP/GEF.

Staff of the Environment Department, led by Acting CEO Mafile'o Ongosia Masi and R2R Project Manager Ta'hirih Fifita Hokafonu were on hand to witness the event, with members of the Nukunukumotu community and guests.

Samoa and Solomons Men met for the first time for many years and it provided a close tussle. 

At the conclusion of the match it was a 2 all draw.

To find the winner involved the first shootout competition of the tournament.

Exciting goalkeeping kept the score 1-1 as different strikers had their turns however, it was in sudden death that Samoa, in their first Hockey5s shootout broke the deadlock to take the game.

The highlight game in the women's section was the match between Samoa and Fiji. Samoa really challenged Fiji and the match ended 6-4 to Fiji. 

Mapa Puloka has been speaking at the country's first mental health symposium aimed at creating awareness of the sector.

RNZI reports Dr Puloka said there were about 10 patients in the psychiatric ward when he first started working there over 20 years ago but now there are about 40.

He said since one of his patients killed another in August, a number of changes have been implemented.

Langi Ma’a symposium is Tonga’s first ever meeting that brings together all stakeholders on mental health and disabilities in Tonga.

The symposium aims to start a formal dialogue to understand mental health issues, learn about available treatment and support services available and lastly to discuss the interaction between mental health and Tonga Culture.

The objective is to understand the state and place of mental health in Tonga, what is working, what is not, and to bring together relevant stakeholders to propose improvements to our mental health system.

Tongans are among the heaviest users of tobacco in the world.

According to a World Health Organization survey, 46 percent of men and 13 per cent of women in Tonga smoke.

The campaign, called the 'Tuku Ifi Leva' or 'Quit Smoking Now' will run for six weeks across all media in Tonga.

It graphically shows the risks of tobacco use, including the effects of throat cancer.

The campaign aims to address not only the health risks for smokers, but the impact of secondhand smoke.

The Electoral Commission has released the names of 86 candidates who are vying for the 17 People's Representative seats in parliament.

Among the list of candidates are current government ministers, former ministers who were dismissed in the past year and former senior government civil servants.

There are more than 57,000 registered voters, according to a provisional electoral roll.

The provisional electoral roll consists of 51% women and 49% men.