About this event

Join Dr Viliami Puloka and HPF Executive Director Sione Tu’itahi in this interactive webinar looking at and discussing how we can improve our approach to Pacific health, using a range of Pacific health promotion tools.

Introduction:

Covid-19 is forcing us to re-think our approach to Pacific health and health promotion. In this webinar we will discuss some of the important elements of Pacific Health Promotion planning and practice. To be effective in our work in Pacific communities we will need a number of tools, such as Pacific health models, in our Pasifika basket of knowledge. As we know, some of these tools, skills and knowledge are unique to Pacific world views, values and beliefs. So what are some of the things we need to know from the outset that will leverage our work and improve Pacific health outcomes? Please join Viliami and Sione, and the HPF team in this interactive webinar which looks at and discusses how we might improve our approach.

About the Facilitators:

Dr Viliami Puloka

Viliami is HPF’s Senior Health Promotion Strategist specialising in Pacific Health Promotion. He joined us in June 2014.

A Public health physician with a special interest in diabetes and obesity, Viliami brings with him a wealth of Pacific experience; combining his clinical skills and his Public health knowledge. He has gained a broad social and cultural appreciation from working with the diverse and unique islands of the Pacific. He has a strong multi-sectoral experience and programmatic approach in capacity building, project management and community development.

Most recently, Viliami came from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) based in New Caledonia. Supporting and working with the 22 Pacific Island countries and territories, he led the fight against non-communicable diseases.

Before that, Viliami worked as a clinician, as well as looking after the public health programmes in the outer islands of Tonga. He was the first director of health promotion and non-communicable disease at the Government of Tonga.

Viliami has an MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) from the University of Papua New Guinea and a MPH (Masters in Public Health) in Health Education/Health Promotion from the University of Hawaii.

He is also a Research Fellow at the School of Public Health, Otago University.

Sione Tu'itahi

Educator, author and health promoter, Sione is the Executive Director of the Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand, and the Global Vice-President (Communications) of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE). His leadership was instrumental in bringing the IUHPE World Conference 2019 to Rotorua, Aotearoa New Zealand for the first time. He was named Public Health Association NZ, Public Health Champion for 2019.