Two Tongan doctors have secured $1.2 million in funding to conduct extensive research aimed at Pacific peoples grappling with fertility challenges within their community in Aotearoa.
The funding has come from the Health Research Council of New Zealand.
Dr Zaramasina Clark from Victoria University of Wellington and Dr Edmond Fehoko from the University of Otago were selected as recipients of one of three grants awarded by the council.
Fehoko says they are grateful to be able to start the project.
“As emerging Tongan scholars, we have been given the opportunity to explore this very sensitive matter of our Pacific communities to ensure we can provide better pathways for people who struggle with fertility and want to seek better opportunities in Aotearoa New Zealand,” Fehoko says.
The objective of the study is to gather essential data on the percentage of Pacific individuals seeking professional infertility assistance.
Fehoko says such information is currently unavailable.
Silent pandemic
“From a medical side, endometriosis and polycystic ovaries are a silent pandemic hitting our Pacific communities like no other and, unfortunately, we are not talking about it as much as we should be in supporting our Pacific communities,” he says.
One of the main barriers hindering both men and women from seeking help is of religious nature, the senior lecturer at Otago University says.
“It’s God’s creation versus science, naturally conceiving a child versus IVF (In vitro fertilisation). That’s the ongoing talanoa that we hear.
“At the same time, my argument is that if science is man-made, and if God made man, then anything under that should be a blessing for our people.
“We now see a rise in Pacific people going through IVF reproductive technologies in the hope just to have a child,” he says.
Ironically, despite the infertility among Pacific peoples, data from researcher Pasifika Proud, shows that the Pacific population in New Zealand has a growth rate surpassing that of the overall population.
The study is expected to span three years, during which the researchers plan to encourage members of the public to share their stories.