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Kiribati: Where planetary and public health collide
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The climate crisis has major consequences for life in Kiribati, where rising sea levels, and declining arable land and fresh water supplies, have directly impacted people’s health.

A remote collection of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the people of Kiribati (pronounced ki-ree-bas) face significant health challenges. A lack of fresh food has led to high rates of obesity and non-communicable diseases such as diabetes. With the country covering an immense geographical area – mostly ocean – access to healthcare is often difficult; pregnant women are particularly vulnerable.

In Kiribati, MSF teams work on the main island, Tarawa, and on some of the remote outer islands, providing maternal and newborn care in hospitals and maternity wards. We focus on diagnosing and treating diabetes in pregnant women and improving care for newborn babies.

 

Our activities in 2023 in Kiribati

Data and information from the International Activity Report 2023.

MSF in Kiribati in 2023 In 2023, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) supported healthcare for women and children in Kiribati, a Pacific island nation with many severe health issues that are being exacerbated by climate change.
Kiribati IAR map 2023

Kiribati’s health system struggles to meet people’s needs, due to a lack of qualified medical personnel and equipment. To help address these shortfalls, MSF has been running medical programmes in the country since 2022, focusing on maternal, neonatal and paediatric care.

The impacts of climate change, such as storm surges, salinisation of the water table, and drought, are reducing the availability of fresh and nutritious food in Kiribati. This has compounded the already significant burden of diet-related diseases such as malnutrition among children, and diabetes and hypertension – which are aggravated by high rates of obesity – among adults.

In addition, the number of maternal and neonatal deaths remain high, with a reported stillbirth rate of two per cent of all births. In 2023, our teams worked to improve basic neonatal care in the first 24 hours of life at clinics and hospitals in the capital, Tarawa, by providing training and clinical oversight to local health professionals, as well as tending directly to patients.

MSF teams also offered care, supervision and management support to the paediatric and obstetric departments of Tarawa’s main hospitals, and were instrumental in identifying a significant number of severely malnourished children, whom our staff then treated.

On the remote Southern Gilbert Islands, we trained staff in the Helping Babies Breathe neonatal resuscitation programme. We also strengthened the provision of maternal healthcare; for example, helping to improve the outcomes of pregnant women with diabetes-related high blood pressure or pulmonary embolism.
 
In addition, MSF supported the Ministry of Health and Medical Services to improve the management of all pharmacy processes, including identifying medical suppliers, ordering supplies and monitoring consumption.    

 

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