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I am Papua New Guinean first and foremost. Until I fully understand, appreciate and situate the implications of what that means, I cannot talk about a concept like Melanesia (a racially-charged concept of my blackness; I own my blackness but refuse to be reduced to just the pigment of my skin!) or Pasifika.

I'm not seeing solutions. Various governments both democratically elected or otherwise have failed in progressing Fiji. So it is likely whoever is in power won't have a ready solution. It is evident tourism will be badly affected in the foreseeable future and this will be similar for countries like NZ that rely heavily on this sector. To generate some thought, assuming a loan props the economy in the short term, what is required and how to restore the Fijian economy post-Covid? Thoughts welcome!

Thanks Joel for this valuable summary of the current debate on WHO. As you say, while there may well be criticisms of the WHO, right at the moment it must be an "all hands on deck" approach for those who are concerned with the health of the world community and one would have thought attention by all governments needs to be on managing the crisis rather than using valuable time looking for scapegoats. It seems astonishing that the US President at this very moment allocates his staff resources for reviews of WHO resources rather than focusing on the very serious issues within the USA. It should also be said that the USA was always going to be hit hard by the pandemic because, unlike almost all other advanced economies, it lacks a universal health scheme and a nation-wide population health approach. Certainly, some presidents might have been able to work differently with the states and cities who have some, very limited, population health capacities rather than engage in arguments and blaming, and thus achieved a degree of coordination and cooperation. But the limited and declining funding of national bodies such as the CDC and the lack of a universal health approach was always going to make response very challenging. While it is easy for the US President to criticise the WHO, a more useful strategy (but highly unlikely!!!) would be to pursue a national health insurance scheme for the US.

I wish Tuvaluan free of the pandemic COVID-19. Stay home, stay safe, avoid confined areas, avoid crowd gathering and avoid personal contact. Better be safe than sorry.

This situation is a result of mismanagement from November 2006 by current regime. Lack of genuine and good leadership and appointment of incompetent people in high profile offices including Ministers in particular Minister of Finance or Economy. This has left Fiji without funds to deal with any crisis including COVID-19, cyclones. I hope people of Fiji who genuinely think about their country and its future generations will act in uniformity to remove the current regime of thugs and restore proper democracy where each leader representing them by their constituency is held accountable for what they sit and do in political positions. For Fiji to recover and change course for positive sustainable development and growth, the first thing that should happen is the removal of current regime through a proper democratic election. The current regime has run out of ideas.

Bullseye

We are hosting a Portuguese couple who have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 in North Queensland. They mentioned that some small farms here have had to put off workers and throw away fruit and vegetables because they are unable to provide to their usual outlets - markets and restaurants. Apart from an appalling waste of food this has led to a crisis in the travellers here on work visas and even a Facebook page called 'Adopt a Backpacker'. They have no resources for rent and food now, and many do not have 'mummy and daddy' to support them as some have suggested. I do not understand why markets and restaurants as essential services are not allowed to be open as long as they observe the protocols for COVID-19 and restaurants supply take-away only? Are big supermarkets blocking this? I think we need more sensibility and more compassion and generosity during these times.

#COVIC 19 Is a World Pandemic - proclaiming God in the land of unexpected Papua New Guinea the land seem to be tyrant form where we a praying to God to eliminate corruption and poverty, services lacking all remote parts of PNG. The question is- can l be a godly person or people neglect personal health concise hygiene rather jumping into judgement. Creator God the Heavenly Father reveal in His Word in old testament Ezekiel 4;18 soul of a father soul of a son belongs to Me the Lord God of host. Remember ungodly people the body he or she has is 100 % percent God owns so it contains a 100 % percent living soul. PNG - God place Caesar on earth to rule and look after his people where each one has a obligation to honor and respect Caesar in times such as this pandemic killing thousand of Gods people around the world rather to be religious. Please lets apply more common sense on how to eliminate covic 19 rather than complacent.

Very interesting on how fiji is going to recover from this depression

FROM Monica Minnegal and Peter Dwyer Thanks Warren. In September 1987, nearly all 23 residents of Gwaimasi village on the west bank of the Strickland River, 45 km NNW from Nomad, succumbed to an outbreak of influenza. The two oldest men were seriously ill, probably with pneumonia. This was near the end of our 15-month stay and we had little left in the way of western medicine. Rather than carrying these men to the nearest mission station – a two-day walk through swamp and forest – and seeking medical assistance there, people at Gwaimasi sought help from a man at a neighbouring community. This man was able to see the activities of some malevolent spirit beings, though unlike spirit mediums he could not directly communicate with them. He examined the ‘patients’, concluded that they had been harmed by spirit beings from the mountains to the north, and removed tiny bamboo ‘arrows’ that the spirits had shot into them. He advised that they retreat to bush houses to hide from further attack. That is what they did and two weeks later they returned to the village, debilitated but alive. Bruce Knauft reported that Gebusi people also responded to epidemic illnesses by dispersing to forest shelters. These people, it seems, appreciated that voluntary quarantine might have health benefits.

That's the price you pay for consumption driven economy with no considerations given to vulnerabilities of small island states and heavily depending on tourism considering its fragility.

Thanks so much Colin for this excellent blog. Looking forward to the Crawford Fund facilitating ongoing discussions that will contribute to strategy formulation within the government international aid program as well as the NGO sector.