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This paper builds on the situation of seafarers, who found themselves stuck in the global crew change crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. This crisis, caused by countries going into lockdown and closing their borders, had affected more than 400,000 seafarers worldwide. Some were stranded overseas, some were trapped aboard ships and others were waiting in transition. A number of international organizations highlighted safety and human rights issues of what was recognized as a humanitarian crisis. They called out the international responsibility of allowing seafarers to cross borders and access health services, and for governments to facilitate safe journeys home for seafarers. The year 2021 was proclaimed as the "year of action for seafarers" to recognize them as essential workers. Building on media and other materials, this paper explores the global crisis and difficulties for many governments in dealing with this exceptional global pandemic with a particular focus on seafarers from Kiribati. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pacific Small Island Developing State (SIDS) of Kiribati has met the formal, minimal criteria for graduation from the Least Developed Country (LDC) category of the United Nations on multiple occasions from 2003 to 2018. Nevertheless, in light of both structural, long‐standing constraints and severe more recent challenges – such as the COVID‐19 pandemic, the Russia‐Ukraine conflict and the exacerbation of the climate crisis – that past assessments took into only partial consideration, the country still appears, at present, unready to lose the support measures that come with the LDC inclusion and to graduate, once and for all, with sustained "momentum." The analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats conducted in this paper suggests the need to further delay any decisions on graduation until more holistic, thorough readiness assessments can be conducted on the basis of new, additional indicators closely reflecting the full range of vulnerabilities that Kiribati, and other similar SIDS, currently face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper responds to Asante et al. (in Hum Resour Health, 2014), providing an updated picture of the impacts of Cuban medical training in the Pacific region based on research carried out in 2019–2021, which focused on the experiences of Pacific Island doctors trained in Cuba and their integration into practice in their home countries. Methods: The research focussed on two case studies—Solomon Islands and Kiribati. Study methods for this research included multi-sited ethnographic methods and semi-structured interviews as well as qualitative analysis of policy documents, reports, and media sources. Results: The Cuban health assistance programme has had a significant impact on the medical workforce in the Pacific region increasing the number of doctors employed by Pacific Ministries of Health between 2012 and 2019. Qualitatively, there have been some notable improvements in the medical workforce and health delivery over this period. However, the integration of the Cuban-trained doctors into practise has been challenging, with criticisms of their clinical, procedural and communication skills, and the need for the rapid development of bridging and internship training programmes (ITPs) which were inadequately planned for at the outset of the programme. Conclusions: The Cuban programme in the Pacific is an important model of development assistance for health in the region. While Cuba's offer of scholarships was the trigger for a range of positive outcomes, the success of the programme has relied on input from a range of actors including support from other governments and institutions, and much hard work by the graduates themselves, often in the face of considerable criticism. Key impacts of the programme to date include the raw increase in the number of doctors and the development of the ITPs and career pathways for the graduates, although this has also led to the reorientation of Cuban graduates from preventative to curative health. There is considerable potential for these graduates to contribute to improved health outcomes across the region, particularly if their primary and preventative health care skills are utilised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the Nauruan reflexes of Proto-Micronesian phonemes. Nauruan participates in most reductive sound changes found elsewhere in Micronesian. The attrition patterns of *t and *k in Nauruan resemble similar developments in Eastern Chuukic. An unusual developments are shifts of major place of articulation, from coronal to velar, and from velar to labial. This paper contains a discussion of the reflexes of Proto-Oceanic palatals in Micronesian. A list of Kiribati loans in Nauruan is supplied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At 07:45 a.m. on 2 April 2007, a tsunami hit Ghizo Island, western Solomon Islands in the south-west Pacific. Thirty-three people died on Ghizo, of whom 31 originated from a relatively small migrant Gilbertese community (transmigrated in the 1950s–1970s from Kiribati), while only two were from the majority Melanesian community. This paper documents an extensive 4-year study that addresses the potential core reasons for this asymmetrical casual impact. Community-participatory social science research was undertaken in two Gilbertese villages and two Melanesian villages. The four villages had similar spatial vulnerabilities due to their coastal location, although they had variable access to the safer higher ground. Gilbertese villages had less diverse ocean-reliant livelihoods, a limited knowledge of hinterland bush resource utilisation, uncertainties regarding land rights, and perceived ethnic discrimination. Melanesian villages had strong wantok and kastom social reciprocity cultures, a diverse set of livelihoods, wider social capital with other Melanesian communities, and greater security regarding land rights. This paper argues that these key factors—linked to the lower status as a migrant community of the Gilbertese, a limited sharing of knowledge between communities, government blind spots and power hierarchies—explain both the disproportionate impacts of the disaster and issues that impact longer-term aid intervention and social cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing vulnerabilities is at the core of climate change adaptation interventions. This goal is usually approached from the perspective of increasingly universal adaptation methodologies, tools and services that are grounded in Western scientific thought and knowledge. Questions of (in-)justices and new or reproduced vulnerabilities play a marginal role in adaptation interventions. In this paper, we argue that a failure to acknowledge, let alone address, the intricate linkages between knowledge and power risks creating fundamental injustices as part of well-intended adaptation processes and their outcomes. Using the Kiribati Adaptation Project (KAP) as a case study, we examine how knowledge hegemonies lead to unsatisfactory adaptation processes and outcomes when viewed from a justice perspective. Environmental justice lenses provide a useful framework for applying distributional, procedural and epistemic notions of injustice to tackle and interrogate the knowledge-power relations, which we identify as a profound part of adaptation interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human fishery observers play an important role in monitoring fish stocks, providing scientific data upon which management organizations set applicable fishing limits and quotas to maintain sustainable populations. At-sea observers, however, sometimes sustain harassment from crews that object to being monitored, and at least one observer has disappeared or died under suspicious circumstances while underway every year since 2009. This exploratory paper examines inherent vulnerabilities within the monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS) framework that nations and regional fisheries management organizations (RFMO) have adopted to support sustainable fish stocks. As rational actors, perpetrators of observer harassment, assault, and murder likely do so to manipulate observers' monitoring role in the MCS framework to conceal illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and other criminal activities. Qualitative analysis of reporting on observer harassment and suspicious disappearances over the past 15 years indicates the following institutional, situational, jurisdictional, and physical conditions appear to contribute to observer safety issues—privatization of fishery observer programs, crime convergence on fishing vessels, conflicting maritime jurisdictional considerations, and harsh conditions endemic to the remote maritime environment. While recorded suspicious observer deaths are too few to draw general conclusions, most occurrences befell observers working for tuna RFMOs in the Pacific Ocean, and a disproportionate number of deaths were observers from Kiribati and Papua New Guinea. Alternative surveillance approaches such as Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) produce limited results without human observers. Future policies that could contribute to observer safety include applying lessons learned from international efforts to address maritime transnational organized crime and providing observers personal communications and safety equipment to directly connect with search and rescue entities if under duress. • Human fishery observers frequently sustain harassment and physical threats. • Remote nature of their work allows criminal fishing crews to coerce observers. • At least one observer has died under suspicious circumstances every year since 2009. • Manipulated fish stock estimates could lead to poor predictions for fishing quotas. • Alternative surveillance approaches produce limited results without human observers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pacific Island countries have experienced periodic dengue, chikungunya and Zika outbreaks for decades. The prevention and control of these mosquito-borne diseases rely heavily on control of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which in most settings are the primary vector. Introgression of the intracellular bacterium Wolbachia pipientis (wMel strain) into Ae. aegypti populations reduces their vector competence and consequently lowers dengue incidence in the human population. Here we describe successful area-wide deployments of wMel-infected Ae. aegypti in Suva, Lautoka, Nadi (Fiji), Port Vila (Vanuatu) and South Tarawa (Kiribati). With community support, weekly releases of wMel-infected Ae. aegypti mosquitoes for between 2 to 5 months resulted in wMel introgression in nearly all locations. Long term monitoring confirmed a high, self-sustaining prevalence of wMel infecting mosquitoes in almost all deployment areas. Measurement of public health outcomes were disrupted by the Covid19 pandemic but are expected to emerge in the coming years. Author summary: For decades, dengue, Zika and chikungunya have been public health issues across the Pacific Island region. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are considered most responsible for the transmission of dengue between people. The introduction of a bacteria called Wolbachia pipientis (wMel strain) to these mosquitoes is known to reduce the transmission of these diseases. Herein, we describe the production and release of wMel-carrying Ae. aegypti mosquitoes into several Pacific Island cities, including Suva, Lautoka, and Nadi in Fiji, Port Vila in Vanuatu, and South Tarawa in Kiribati. With community support, these mosquitoes were released on a weekly basis for periods ranging from 2 to 5 months. The result was a widespread integration of the wMel bacteria into local mosquito populations. Long-term monitoring has shown that the wMel bacteria has been sustained at high levels in mosquitoes in nearly all of the areas where it was introduced. This innovative approach could potentially improve the way we combat mosquito-borne diseases, protecting communities in the Pacific Islands and beyond from the devastating effects of dengue, chikungunya, and Zika. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Change triggered by natural hazards such as pluvial and coastal floods, sea-level rise as well as risks resulting from water scarcity are highly dynamic and related to the effects of ongoing climate change. Whether and how societies adapt, adjust, change, or transform because of climate change and related risks, is a currently debated topic. This question demands revisiting and comprehensively addressing existing theoretical foundations of transformations in risk management strategies and in risk governance to find effective ways to deal with climate change effects and their social consequences. Hence, the paper discusses current developments in transformation research and exemplifies this discussion with four interdisciplinary cases, which the co-authors reported in previous publications. Findings from Austria include a governance change within flood risk management related to zonation. Relocation in Indonesia and Kiribati showcases its cultural, behavioural as well as economic implications. Water scarcity in South Africa underlines the importance of behavioural change to enable the structural storage of rainwater. This paper analyses aspects of adjustment or transformation in these four examples. This may inform risk managers, decision-makers, practitioners, and planners dealing with natural hazards related to climate change how to conceptualise their (re-)actions. • Differences between the terms adaptation, adjustment, change, and transformation are analysed and working definitions suggested. • Triggers and interventions are analysed whether they express adaptation, adjustment, or transformation. • Empirical cases are re-analysed whether the changes therein exhibit elements of adaptation, adjustment, or transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baseline mapping in the two major population centers of Kiribati showed that trachoma was a public health problem in need of programmatic interventions. After conducting two annual rounds of antibiotic mass drug administration (MDA), Kiribati undertook trachoma impact surveys in 2019, using standardized two-stage cluster surveys in the evaluation units of Kiritimati Island and Tarawa. In Kiritimati, 516 households were visited and in Tarawa, 772 households were visited. Nearly all households had a drinking water source and access to an improved latrine. The prevalence of trachomatous trichiasis remained above the elimination threshold (0.2% in ≥15-year-olds) and was virtually unchanged from baseline. The prevalence of trachomatous inflammation—follicular (TF) in 1–9-year-olds decreased by approximately 40% from baseline in both evaluation units but remained above the 5% TF prevalence threshold for stopping MDA. TF prevalence at impact survey was 11.5% in Kiritimati and 17.9% in Tarawa. Infection prevalence in 1–9-year-olds by PCR was 0.96% in Kiritimati and 3.3% in Tarawa. Using a multiplex bead assay to measure antibodies to the C. trachomatis antigen Pgp3, seroprevalence in 1–9-year-olds was 30.2% in Kiritimati and 31.4% in Tarawa. The seroconversion rate, in seroconversion events/100 children/year, was 9.0 in Kiritimati and 9.2 in Tarawa. Seroprevalence and seroconversion rates were both assessed by four different assays, with strong agreement between tests. These results show that, despite decreases in indicators associated with infection at impact survey, trachoma remains a public health problem in Kiribati, and provide additional information about changes in serological indicators after MDA. Author summary: This study compares different indicators for the eye disease trachoma before and after two annual rounds of mass azithromycin treatment of affected communities of Kiribati. We saw decreases in the proportion of children with the sign TF (trachomatous inflammation—follicular) that is used by trachoma programs to make decisions about starting and stopping mass treatment, but these decreases were not sufficient to make the decision to stop. We also saw decreases in infection and antibody levels after treatment. The study provides important public health information to Kiribati trachoma programs, but also adds to the growing body of evidence to guide the use of alternative indicators–infection and antibody–to support these programs. Measuring antibody levels in communities over time helps us understand how antibody levels change as community infection prevalence decreases. Understanding antibody dynamics over time can help us better estimate antibody-based thresholds for surveillance after elimination of trachoma as a public health problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Practices that attach shame to the use of English limit English medium instruction policy enactment. • Emotions are navigated by educators where language of instruction fails. • Negotiation of local demands is a must for language of instruction policy planning. • Language education policy oversight has to consider community rejection of policies. The government of Kiribati, in navigating the intersection of post-colonialism and decolonization, neoliberal ideology, and climate change, has adopted a policy of English-medium instruction (EMI) in education. This paper explores the emotional labour of two leaders/administrators in higher education attempting to enact the EMI policy. Thematic analysis of interview data found that their policy enactment work is constrained by values, attitudes and practices which attach shame to the use of English. Participants navigate experiences of shame and shaming practices, identity conflicts, frustrations, and lack of control/power due to failures to use EMI in institutions, whilst maintaining respectful relations with staff. It was concluded that EMI policies need to account for situations in which those directly tasked with oversight of policy enactment must deal with rejection of language policy as fracturing community identity and cohesion, and consider strategies that allow judicious negotiation by stakeholders of policy demands in local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salinity can influence microbial communities and related functional groups in lacustrine sediments, but few studies have examined temporal variability in salinity and associated changes in lacustrine microbial communities and functional groups. To better understand how microbial communities and functional groups respond to salinity, we examined geochemistry and functional gene amplicon sequence data collected from 13 lakes located in Kiritimati, Republic of Kiribati (2° N, 157° W) in July 2014 and June 2019, dates which bracket the very large El Niño event of 2015–2016 and a period of extremely high precipitation rates. Lake water salinity values in 2019 were significantly reduced and covaried with ecological distances between microbial samples. Specifically, phylum- and family-level results indicate that more halophilic microorganisms occurred in 2014 samples, whereas more mesohaline, marine, or halotolerant microorganisms were detected in 2019 samples. Functional Annotation of Prokaryotic Taxa (FAPROTAX) and functional gene results (nifH, nrfA, aprA) suggest that salinity influences the relative abundance of key functional groups (chemoheterotrophs, phototrophs, nitrogen fixers, denitrifiers, sulfate reducers), as well as the microbial diversity within functional groups. Accordingly, we conclude that microbial community and functional gene groups in the lacustrine sediments of Kiritimati show dynamic changes and adaptations to the fluctuations in salinity driven by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Many Pacific people are considering cross‐border mobility in response to the climate crisis, despite exclusion from international protection frameworks. The 'Migration with dignity' concept facilitates immigration within existing laws but without host government support. Through the metaphor of Pacific navigation, we explore the role of dignity in the lives of I‐Kiribati and Tuvaluans in Aotearoa New Zealand. Methods: Combining talanoa (pacific research method) with I‐Kiribati and Tuvaluan community members, alongside critical community psychology and thematic analysis, we depict climate mobility as a wa or vaka moana (ocean‐going canoes) journey. Analysis: Participants are expert navigators, navigating immigration obstacles to (re)grow their roots in Aotearoa New Zealand before charting a course for future generations to thrive. They draw strength from culture and community to overcome the adversity of precarious living and visa non‐recognition. Conclusion: Reconceptualising climate mobility through a Pacific lens imagines both dignity and cultural preservation as possible, despite the indignities and limitations of socio‐political systems and protections for climate migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pelagic stingray (Pteroplatytrygon violacea), perhaps the only stingray to inhabit open ocean waters, is highly interactive with longline and purse seine fisheries. The threat to P. violacea posed by high bycatch mortality has received widespread attention. To date, the environmental preference of P. violacea, which is important in designing conservation and management measures, has not been well studied. Based on data collected during a 2016–2019 survey in the Pacific Ocean by national observers of tuna longline fisheries, the relationship between the presence of P. violacea and spatiotemporal and environmental variables was first analyzed using the Generalized Additive Model. The results showed that geographic location (latitude and longitude) was the most influential variable. Monthly, P. violacea is frequently present in the Pacific high sea from December to May. The El Niño–Southern Oscillation had a significant impact on the presence of P. violacea in the Pacific high sea, with both the cold (Ocean Nino Index <−0.5) and warm (Ocean Nino Index >1) phases leading to a decrease in its presence. Regarding the environmental factors, we found that high presence was associated with low salinity (33.0~34.5 psu), a relatively high concentration of chlorophyll (0.2–0.35 mg/m3), and warm water (>20 °C). P. violacea was most likely observed in the waters offshore, closer to seamounts, and with water depths between 4000 and 5000 m. Four areas, including those east of the Solomon Islands and east of Kiribati, areas west of the Galapagos Islands, and areas near the coastal upwelling of northern Peru, related to upwelling systems or seamounts, were identified as the potential key habitats of P. violacea. Predicted distribution maps showed a significant seasonal variation in the presence of P. violacea. Moreover, the yearly change in the presence of P. violacea in the Pacific high sea indicated a possible decreasing trend in recent years. The information first provided here is essential for developing conservation and management measures for P. violacea to prevent the unavoidable ecological consequences of bycatch or other anthropogenic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because many vessels use the Automatic Identification System (AIS) to broadcast GPS positions, recent advances in satellite technology have enabled us to map global fishing activity. Understanding of human activity at sea, however, is limited because an unknown number of vessels do not broadcast AIS. Those vessels can be detected by satellite-based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery, but this technology has not yet been deployed at scale to estimate the size of fleets in the open ocean. Here we combine SAR and AIS for large-scale open ocean monitoring, developing methods to match vessels with AIS to vessels detected with SAR and estimate the number of non-broadcasting vessels. We reveal that, between September 2019 and January 2020, non-broadcasting vessels accounted for about 35% of the longline activity north of Madagascar and 10% of activity near French Polynesia and Kiribati's Line Islands. We further demonstrate that this method could monitor half of the global longline activity with about 70 SAR images per week, allowing us to track human activity across the oceans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sea level rise (SLR) in small island countries such as Kiribati and Tuvalu have been a significant issue for decades. There is an urgent need for more accurate and reliable scientific information regarding SLR and its trend and for more informed decision making. This study uses the tide gauge (TG) dataset obtained from locations in Betio, Kiribati and Funafuti, Tuvalu with sea level corrections for vertical land movement (VLM) at these locations from the data obtained by the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) before the sea level trend and rise predictions. The oceanic feature inputs of water temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed, wind gust, wind direction, air temperature, and three significant lags of sea level are considered in this study for data modeling. A new data decomposition method, namely, successive variational mode decomposition (SVMD), is employed to extract intrinsic modes of each feature that are processed for selection by the Boruta random optimizer (BRO). The study develops a deep learning model, namely, stacked bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM), to make sea level (target variable) predictions that are benchmarked by three other AI models adaptive boosting regressor (AdaBoost), support vector regression (SVR), and multilinear regression (MLR). With a comprehensive evaluation of performance metrics, stacked BiLSTM attains superior results of 0.994207, 0.994079, 0.988219, and 0.899868 for correlation coefficient, Wilmott's Index, the Nash–Sutcliffe Index, and the Legates–McCabe Index, respectively, for Kiribati, and with values of 0.996806, 0.996272, 0.992316, and 0.919732 for correlation coefficient, Wilmott's Index, the Nash–Sutcliffe Index, and the Legates–McCabe Index, respectively, for the case of Tuvalu. It also shows the lowest error metrics in prediction for both study locations. Finally, trend analysis and linear projection are provided with the GNSS-VLM-corrected sea level average for the period 2001 to 2040. The analysis shows an average sea level rate rise of 2.1 mm/yr for Kiribati and 3.9 mm/yr for Tuvalu. It is estimated that Kiribati and Tuvalu will have a rise of 80 mm and 150 mm, respectively, by the year 2040 if estimated from year 2001 with the current trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This guest comment for the Australian Law Journal examines two recent cases in which courts and judges in the Pacific have acted to apply and uphold judicial independence. The first case, from Kiribati, involves judicial review of executive conduct in relation to a judge's appointment, tenure and attempted deportation. The second, in Samoa, concerns the exercise of the jurisdiction of contempt by scandalising the court as a means by which a court can protect its independence. Courts in the Pacific are no strangers to the adjudication of politically fraught matters. The expectations placed upon judiciaries in post-colonial Pacific democracies differ in significant ways from the role of courts in long-established democracies. These responsibilities can make judiciaries a potential target for political interference, while at the same time making judicial independence and impartiality all the more critical. The temptation is to address judicial independence as a structural matter, using 'international' standards that rest on assumptions about the role of courts that do not necessarily capture the contexts in which judiciaries in the Pacific operate. This context is characterised by the legacies of colonisation including legal pluralism, and the exigencies of smallness and remoteness which, among other things, have led many Pacific judiciaries to rely on foreign judges, a phenomenon that imports its own challenges to judicial independence. This comment shows that more is required, first in the adaptation of standards to accommodate features of Pacific judiciaries, and second in the study of judges and courts themselves as key actors in defining and maintaining judicial independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The scale of migration is increasing, and while great uncertainty exists in identifying exact numbers, the estimated number of international migrants is already surpassing 2050 projections in the order of 2.6%, or 230 million. As people migrate, they face a number of challenges including exposure to disease and other health threats, violence and assualt, trafficking and unlawful detention. However, of the protections available to migrants, the implementation and realization of these protections and how they impact the individual experiences of migrants and their loss of human rights and dignity rights across the migration cycle, are lacking. In acknowledgement of this, McClain et al. developed a legal and policy framework for Migration with Dignity, which identified six fundamental elements central to the migration experience that can supplement and support the implementation of migrant protections. The framework was built upon the foundational policy of former President of Kiribati, Anote Tong, who understood the climate change was impacting the lives and livelihoods of his people and that in the face of diminishing land area and opportunities, that the Kiribati should have the opportunity to determine when and how they migrate, and that in doing so that they are able to live a life that is equal to or better than the one they left behind. The Migration with Dignity framework offers an opportunity to provide policy and legal options to governments, policy makers, and NGO's for how to improve to consider the dignity of migrants while they move, and improve the transition of migrants into new settings, while also fostering opportunities for improved livelihoods. However, in order to provide these opportunities, the framework would benefit from additional application of the fundamental elements across different contexts and in different settings. With this in mind, this article provides the necessary methodology for considering the social and legal dimensions of the framework, it also provides examples for how to apply the framework across multiple contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue presents the findings of an international collaborative research project conducted between 2019 and 2021. This study is a follow-up of a previous study conducted between 2016 and 2019. In both studies, we examined the livelihoods of future climate migrants, who may relocate from Pacific atoll countries to developed countries. The Maldives was also included in this study, as it developed a unique strategy to cope with anticipated sea-level rise. They have developed a new city on reclaimed land and elevated it, intending to move the majority of its population there. In our first research project, we learned of the challenges faced by Pacific Islanders when transitioning to their new lives in a foreign country. This included inter alia unemployment or lack of opportunities for upward mobility, limited access to healthcare and legal services, and discrimination. We thus developed a formal policy and legal framework for the concept of "Migration with Dignity," built upon the phrase first coined by then-Kiribati President Anote Tong. Our framework represents the opportunity for migrants to live a life equal to or better than the one they left behind. We then applied our concept of the Migration with Dignity framework to the challenges faced by climate migrants in the real world. The global outbreak of COVID-19 occurred during the implementation of our new research project. This made field research almost impossible in both atoll and developed countries and led us to modify our survey methods to include tele-interviews and remote surveys through the Internet. The pandemic also revealed the exacerbated vulnerabilities of the people who migrated to developed countries, such as discrimination, poor or no translation of medical documents, and challenging healthcare processes. We decided to address these issues within the framework of our research. We leave it to the readers of this special issue to decide how far we were able to maintain the quality of our research despite the difficulties we faced due to the sudden pandemic. As we felt at the end of our last collaboration, we now know what we need to do in our next endeavor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Release and subsequent establishment of Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti in native mosquito populations has successfully reduced mosquito-borne disease incidence. While this is promising, further development is required to ensure that this method is scalable and sustainable. Egg release is a beneficial technique that requires reduced onsite resources and increases community acceptance; however, its incidental ecological impacts must be considered to ensure sustainability. In this study, we tested a more environmentally friendly mosquito rearing and release approach through the encapsulation of diet and egg mixtures and the subsequent utilization of waste containers to hatch and release mosquitoes. An ecologically friendly diet mix was specifically developed and tested for use in capsules, and we demonstrated that using either cricket or black soldier fly meal as a substitute for beef liver powder had no adverse effects on fitness or Wolbachia density. We further encapsulated both the egg and diet mixes and demonstrated no loss in viability. To address the potential of increased waste generation through disposable mosquito release containers, we tested reusing commonly found waste containers (aluminum and tin cans, PET, and glass bottles) as an alternative, conducting a case study in Kiribati to assess the concept's cultural, political, and economic applicability. Our results showed that mosquito emergence and fitness was maintained with a variety of containers, including when tested in the field, compared to control containers, and that there are opportunities to implement this method in the Pacific Islands in a way that is culturally considerate and cost-effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Overweight and obesity among high school students is a growing distress not only to the individual wellbeing of a person but also to the productivity of communities and economic expense of both developed and developing nations. This study aimed to determine factors contributing to overweight and obesity among high school students in Kiribati through the perception of students. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in four (4) randomly selected senior high schools on South Tarawa, Kiribati from August to November, 2020. A purposive sampling was used to select thirty-two (32) students enrolled into form levels 4–7. A semi-structured open-ended questionnaire was used for data collection using face-to-face in-depth interviews. Data was transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis method. Results: This research revealed that the participants were 21 (65.6%) were females and 11 (34.4%) males from form levels four with 9 (28.1%) participants, five with 9 (28.1%) participants, and form seven with 14 (43.8%) participants. Five themes identified including determinants and prevention of overweight and obesity, education and health system factors, stigma, and being fat comes with high risk. These themes collectively elaborate on the essentials of overweight and obesity that are obtained from perspectives of students. Conclusion: A strong cultural belief and practice has caused misperception of overweight and obesity among students with knowledge-behavior gap recognized as the main reason behind the failure in lifestyle changes among adolescents. Strengthen healthy behavioral lifestyle, improve awareness, and support feasible preventative strategies is recommended to all students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is threatening to displace millions of people by the middle of this century, some of the most vulnerable countries being Small Island States (SISs) in the Pacific. Kiribati's historical 'Migration With Dignity' (MWD) relocation scheme has been abandoned as an official government strategy, replaced instead by an approach based on economic prosperity, climate change adaptation and mitigation. Through a human rights perspective aimed at securing the minimally good life for those affected by climate change, this article seeks to explore and contrast in detail the potentials and limitations of cross-border relocation with the new adaptation strategy, exemplified in the ongoing urban and land development project in Temaiku Bight on the capital island of South Tarawa. It further considers increased quotas for labour migration and the creation of humanitarian visas and argues that while adaptation and economic growth may bide some time and regional cross-border relocations give no precedent for best practice, the best solution is a combination of options which cannot exist in isolation. It sums up the numerous policy issues which as a minimum must be addressed for there to be any hope of migration and dignity for the people of Kiribati in the years to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Kiribati, an island nation in Oceania, men tend to dominate sexual and reproductive health decision-making and women assume disproportionate responsibility for contraception. Yet there are couples who challenge this and, moreover, disrupt the way that I-Kiribati gender relations are typically framed. I-Kiribati are the indigenous peoples of Kiribati. This article draws from research which explored links between vasectomy uptake and genderequitable relations among couples in South Tarawa from 2017 to 2018. The case study, conducted with the support of Kiribati Family Health Association (KFHA), reframes essentialist notions of gender roles and gender relations in Kiribati. Building on international literature, the relational aspect of gender and gender normative behaviours associated with sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are examined. Semi-structured informal interviews were held with five vasectomised I-Kiribati men and their wives, interviewed as a couple and individually. Comparative analysis was undertaken with two same-sex focus group discussions, one with non-vasectomised men and the other with their wives, as well as with six key informant interviews. Qualitative data were analysed thematically within feminist and indigenous frameworks, and further triangulated with international and Kiribati studies. Findings suggest that gender equity is likely to be a pre-condition of vasectomy, and vasectomy can lead to equitable outcomes for women. However, connections are complex. Vasectomy, in and of itself, is unlikely to change deeply embedded inequitable practices. Vasectomy uptake can also result from, and lead to, inequitable behaviours. Gender relations within and among couples were multifaceted and contradictions existed. This article argues that approaches to SRHR which privilege dominant perceptions of gender roles and gender relations fail to recognise those who challenge normative behaviours, cannot effectively tackle gender inequality, and, at their worst, perpetuate inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]