It is good to know healthcare and Samoa’s current crisis of health expertise shortages was a key part of discussions between the Samoa and American Samoa Governments recently.

The Governments of Samoa and the U.S. territory met during the 2nd Atoa O Samoa Executive Meeting at the Taumeasina Island Resort from 13–14 October 2022.

An article (Two Samoa’s keen to address health expertise shortage) in the Monday 24 October 2022 edition of the Samoa Observer reported on the bilateral discussions between the two states.

An option that was put forward as a solution to address the health expertise shortages crisis in both Samoa and American Samoa is the creation of a physician and nurse exchange programme for those who are resident in either Apia or Pago Pago.

“The Meeting was informed of the development of a standalone electronic health records system (EHR) in American Samoa, which will play an important role in patient management and effective medical care services,” reads the Outcomes Document of the 2nd Atoa O Samoa Executive Meeting, which was released after the conference.

“To address the continuing shortage of healthcare professionals in both countries, a physician and nurse exchange program could be considered. 

“Nurses from Samoa will be required to complete the NCLEX exam to be able to work in American Samoa.”

The shortage of health professionals in Pacific Island states and territories has been an ongoing challenge for many years, prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic which also appears to have exacerbated the manpower shortage crisis.

A major factor behind the loss of health professionals to our cosmopolitan neighbours such as Australia and New Zealand, has been the “brain drain” or migration with acute shortage of personnel experienced in the medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing and midwifery fields to the detriment of health outcomes in our respective nations and territories. 

The flow of health professionals from our island nations and territories to greener pastures abroad is unlikely to end, which is why the discussions during the 2nd Atoa O Samoa Executive Meeting makes sense.

The similarities in the health challenges facing citizens and territorians in both Samoa and American Samoa also makes a good case for that dialogue to happen, which hopefully will lead to the two neighbouring islands sharing more resources including knowledge and personnel.

For example, life-style or noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) which appear to be endemic in both Samoa and American Samoa. A study (Origin, Impact, and Solutions for Lifestyle-Related Chronic Diseases in Samoa and American Samoa) published 5 September 2021 stated “the leading causes of mortality and morbidity are heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and stroke” in American Samoa and Samoa.

According to the study – authored by Sable Neuendorf, Jadon Neuendorf and Mohsin Yakub – an estimated 81 per cent of deaths in Samoa were attributed to NCDs while in American Samoa 71.8 per cent of the population were considered high risk for NCDs. The high risk factors in American Samoa included smoking, obesity, hypertension and low consumption of fruits and vegetables and the same can be said for Samoa.

Amid these discussions at that government-to-government level, we understand officials within American Samoa’s Department of Health (DoH) and Samoa’s Ministry of Health (MoH) had already been in dialogue over the years, with the servicing of the CT-Scan at Moto’otua one of the beneficiaries of that arrangement.

We believe the proposed physician and nurse exchange program should build on that understanding and cooperation that already exists between our two health services providers.

The recent announcement by the Samoa Cancer Society (SCS) that it is considering in-country treatment for cancer patients, due to the availability of a cold storage facility at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole National Hospital to store cancer medication, could be another area that could be looked at to see how collaboration can save the lives of our cancer patients.

Interestingly, in March this year respected U.S. publication Harvard Business Review published an article titled “How collaboration can drastically improve U.S. health care”.

The authors of the article surmised – based on a company setting that specialises in health care delivery – that “collaboration leads to better problem solving, peer learning, shared purpose, and innovative ideas.”

There is no doubt that a lot of good can come out of this pathway which was discussed at the recent 2nd Atoa O Samoa Executive Meeting, and over the long-term should impact positively on the health outcomes of our people in our two neighbouring states.