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Are you wanting to break your betel nut addiction? Sweat your way to a fitter you, or get on top of that excruciating case of gout? Pacific Pulse has you covered.
Dangerous penis injections persist despite dire health risks
<p>A warning from a Vanuatu surgeon about the dangers of penile enlargement injections has once again put the spotlight on a quiet crisis leaving Pacific men in chronic pain.</p><p>This edition of Pacific Pulse was a repeat of the program broadcast on 12 November 2025</p>
Pacific children in Aotearoa are living with hearing loss. What is stopping them getting help?
<p>Nearly one in three Pacific children in Aotearoa is living with hearing loss. But getting diagnosed is only part of the problem. </p>
After years of pain, Tongans can now access joint replacement surgery at home
<p>For years, many Tongans living with severe hip and knee problems had just two options: travel overseas for treatment or learn to live with the pain. In late September, that began to change.</p>
Parkinson's-linked gene found at higher rates in some Polynesians
<p>Parkinson's isn't only a disease of older age. Researchers are investigating why some Polynesian people are being diagnosed much earlier, sometimes in their 30s and 40s.</p>
Why are Pacific Australians largely invisible in national health data?
<p>Pacific communities are among Australia’s fastest-growing populations, yet we remain largely invisible in the health data used to shape policy and services, Dr Matt Bray explains.</p>
Dr Nerida Bun on the fight to detect betel-nut related oral cancer before it's too late
<p>Betel nut chewing is deeply woven into life in Papua New Guinea, but it's also linked to some of the world's highest rates of oral cancer, and we hear from dentist and lecturer Dr Nerida Bun about the push to catch the disease earlier and save lives from city areas to the remote highlands. </p>
Avelima Eliepa, of @savingthroughchaos, shares what home loan advice misses about Pacific families
<p>Money stress and wellbeing go hand-in-hand and financial advice that understands Pacific ways of being can make all the difference.</p>
Why these two Christians are paddling around Viti Levu on an eco-pilgrimage
<p>As the Pacific heads into another round of global climate talks, we hear what climate security looks like on the ground and catch up with two Christians paddling around Viti Levu to take on single-use plastics.</p>
Can co-ops revitalise healthcare in the Pacific?
<p> In Fiji, there's now renewed interest in one model that puts communities in the driver's seat: cooperativ</p>
How do we communicate health crises to the masses?
<p>Dengue fever and the flu look alike on the surface, so trusted health advice is essential</p>
How to care for yourself while caring for others
<p>Culturally, it is right to be of service to others. But how can you best serve your family and community if you're burning out in the process? </p>
Bring a sense of calm into your busy day by sewing
<p>Maybe putting down your phone and picking up some fabric or knitting needles is the best thing you can do for your mental health and overall wellbeing. </p>
'Don't wait for a crisis': Care home founders say planning for old age must start early
<p>As traditional support networks erode across Fiji, founders Edwina Biyau and Asilika Matthew from Daulomani Safe Home reveal the stark realities vulnerable seniors face today.</p>
Simple, plant-based staples a winner for your next allergen-friendly dinner
<p>Meet the Pacific families, food lovers and researchers working to make traditional feasts both inclusive and safe for everyone.</p>
How a Tongan royal decree started a sumo dynasty
<p>Meet former sumo wrestler Minaminoshima Isamu Prescott Falevai, who carried his father's sumo ring name all the way to Japan and spent nearly eight years inside one of the country's elite professional stables.</p>
How to fact-check false health claims before they go viral
<p>Health misinformation has spread across the Pacific for years, often reaching communities before the facts do.</p>
While Polynesians are dominating in Power Slap, one expert warns damage to 'silken tofu' brain is instant
<p>A neuroscientist says Power Slap athletes aren't just risking their future, many are losing consciousness from hit and that means literal brain damage is happening in the moment.</p>
If you want a murder mystery that cuts deeper than crime, Sugar is the read for you
<p>For many in Fiji, sugar evokes memory of indentured labour, land dispossession, and the quiet crisis of diabetes that touches nearly every family.</p>
Kimami Sitauti is the big brother Pacific rugby players in France need
<p>After a medical retirement brought his playing days to a halt, Kimami Sitauti found a new purpose in France helping new arrivals navigate life in a country where even ordering a coffee can feel overwhelming without French.</p><p>This edition of Pacific Pulse was a repeat of the program broadcast on 15th April 2026</p>
Why mental illnesses like schizophrenia and depression are misunderstood in Samoa
<p>Experts say when someone is visibly unwell, we’re still quick to label them “crazy,” or explain symptoms like hearing voices or paranoia through spirits or possession when these can be signs of conditions like schizophrenia or severe depression that need proper treatment. </p>
Why are Indo-Fijian women underrepresented in contact sports?
<p>Race, patriarchy, poverty, and the arrival of a period has kept generations of women invisible in Fiji's sports scene. </p>
Australia is battling its worst diphtheria outbreak. Here's how you can stay safe
<p>Diphtheria is a bacterial disease we thought we'd left behind, but gaps in adult vaccination and overcrowded housing conditions have given it a foothold again.</p>
Elaine Munroe hands out syringes to drug users to prevent HIV's spread because pharmacies won't
<p>Sitting across a trafficking route where meth and cocaine is passing through Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Solomon Islands, not all drugs leave. </p>
As forests fall in West Papua, communities warn of impacts on food and health
<p>Indonesian biofuel projects are tearing through forests in West Papua and pushing people off their customary land</p>
In California, Sela Langi is sewing to serve her Tongan community
<p>For Tongans in the diaspora, sewing can be the thread between culture, identity and your island home.</p>
What do you get when you cross eddoe and dasheen? A climate-ready taro for the future
<p>One of the world’s oldest staple crops is being reshaped for a hotter, drier future in Papua New Guinea, where scientists are developing climate-resilient taro hybrids designed to withstand drought, heat and rising salinity.</p>
For Jalen Manumaleuga, Jackson State became a window into civil rights history through basketball
<p>Jalen Manumaleuga thought basketball was the goal, but a scholarship to Jackson State University lead him to study African American history and business which has shaped him beyond the game. </p>
Dreaming of college basketball in the US? Jalen Manumaleuga shares what it really takes
<p>Samoan athletes have shaped world sport for decades, especially in rugby league and union where their power and skill have become defining traits of the modern game. Now, basketball is beginning to see a new generation break through and make their mark</p>
Kimami Sitauti is the big brother Pacific rugby players in France need
<p>After a medical retirement brought his playing days to a halt, Kimami Sitauti found a new purpose in France helping new arrivals navigate life in a country where even ordering a coffee can feel overwhelming without French.</p>
If you want a murder mystery that cuts deeper than crime, Sugar is the read for you
<p>For many in Fiji, sugar evokes memory of indentured labour, land dispossession, and the quiet crisis of diabetes that touches nearly every family.</p>
Fijian taskforce desperate to stop mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B
<p>One part of this crisis that should not be happening at all is being born with HIV. It’s almost entirely preventable with testing, treatment and the right care for mums in pregnancy.</p>
Runny ears are common in Goroka but they shouldn’t be. So what is otitis media?
<p>In Papua New Guinea, many children struggle to hear their teacher, friends, or even their own family, not because they were born deaf, but because a simple ear infection went untreated.</p>
Cooking, eating and healing the Samoan way with author Tertia Ryan
<p>Moringa is one of the key ingredients in salads by Tertia Ryan who is a Samoan advocate for healthy living who helped bring together Heal the Samoan Way</p>
Big levers shape our access to nutritious food, but health is still ours to protect
<p>Curbing non-communicable disease might look like cutting one sugary drink a day, adding an extra serving of local fruit or vegetables or jumping in the ocean that surrounds us. We are not powerless.</p>
Why mental illnesses like schizophrenia and depression are misunderstood in Samoa
<p>Experts say when someone is visibly unwell, we’re still quick to label them “crazy,” or explain symptoms like hearing voices or paranoia through spirits or possession when these can be signs of conditions like schizophrenia or severe depression that need proper treatment. </p>
What to do if your kids get malaria
<p>Over Christmas, Sistas Let's Talk host Natasha Meten travelled home to Madang in Papua New Guinea with her husband and three children. One night, a mosquito slipped into the room where her children were sleeping without a net and what followed was a malaria diagnosis. </p>
Is reducing nicotine use the secret to quitting for good?
<p>While smokers and vapers face the personal challenge of quitting, governments and policymakers in the Pacific hold responsibility for creating environments that support healthier choices.</p>
Sunscreen is essential and a human right for people with albinism in Fiji
<p>Under the Pacific sun, people living with albinism face stigma, health risks, and daily challenges. Fiji is leading the way, recognising dermatology as a human right and making sunscreen essential for protection and survival.</p>
Is scabies the key to preventing rheumatic heart disease?
<p>Epidemiologist Dr Simon Thornley explains why treating scabies on a large scale could be a game changer for preventing rheumatic heart disease in our children. </p>
How factual is gout content on TikTok?
<p>Gout content on TikTok might be giving you the wrong idea about what the condition is and how it can be treated. </p>
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