Koji Kawamura
Southern Pacific Medical Team Representative

Ever since a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was reported in Wuhan, China, in early December 2019, the Southern Pacific Medical Team has been forced to suspend our activities in the Kingdom of Tonga (hereinafter, “Tonga”).

In Tonga, vaccination rates were initially high and lockdown was successful, preventing the spread of COVID-19 infections. However, the country suffered from the large-scale eruption of an underwater volcano and subsequent tsunami in the early hours of 15 January 2022, and bringing in relief supplies from around the world led to the movement of people resulting in a rapid increase in cases. At present, the lockdown in Tonga has been lifted and it is possible to enter and leave the country; however, bearing in mind the situation with the disaster and COVID, we have not yet visited.

When we sent relief supplies and financial donations to the Tongan Ministry of Health Dental Office, we received this photograph along with their thanks.

In order to support them however we could, we collected donations for disaster victims and for the Ministry of Health from the public, and gave oral hygiene products, items for COVID prevention, and financial donations to the Ministry of Health, in line with the requests of the Mali Mali Program, and financial donations to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Tonga in Japan.

Training and practical exercises in oral care and eating and swallowing for elderly and disabled people living at home

In addition, while we are unable to work on the ground in Tonga, Tongan dental staff have given a talk over Zoom at a summer camp, a team member has presented on our activities in Tonga to the Japanese Society for Oral Health, and we have provided dental care to foreigners within Japan who are ordinarily unable to benefit from such services.

In 2020, Tongan dental staff who participated via Zoom in a summer camp for children with allergies held by Kanagawa Children’s Medical Center presented on their activities in Tonga, and made a Tongan-language version of a poster by the NST (Nutrition Support Team) about nutritional guidance.

Medical consultation session

In May 2022, at an online symposium held by the Japanese Society for Oral Health, Professor Mami Endoh, a specialist in dental care for disabled people (a member of the Team working on the Dentistry for Disabled People course in the School of Dentistry at Matsudo, Nihon University) gave a lecture on the subject of “Thinking about oral health services for elderly people requiring support”. During this lecture, she presented from the perspectives of the SDGs, Universal Health Coverage, global health, and Going Upstream. She introduced our activities in Tonga, focusing on our experiences of technology transfer through carrying out home-visit dental care together with Tongan dental therapists for elderly people who are unable to visit a hospital for treatment and disabled people who are unable to make use of day service facilities, as well as our oral care support and practical exercises for elderly people without any teeth who have difficulties with eating and swallowing.

Kawaguchi City, where my clinic is located, is the town with the largest number of foreign residents in Japan. Many of these foreigners have provisional release status for various reasons, and they are forbidden from working and are unable to receive healthcare. My clinic holds dental treatment sessions after receiving a request from the group “HEVAL: Together With Kurds Living in Japan”. At the request of the NPO “North Kanto Medical Consultation Amigos,” we participated in a medical consultation session held at St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Yotsuya in November 2021, providing dental care to those needing it.

Visits to and activities in Tonga have been restricted during the COVID pandemic, but we are thinking about visiting and carrying out activities there once infections have come under control.

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