Concerns at the high suicide rate of Tongan youth living in New Zealand has prompted Doctors Siale Foliaki and Staverton Kautoke to provide counselling sessions for patients at the Tongan Health Society as part of its Mental Health Service.

Tongan Health Society (THS) Board will open a new Medical Centre in Kelston Mall – West Auckland in April.

The 2015 Alliance Health Achievement Awards saw The Tongan Health Society again feature with it being chosen for the Consistent High Performance and Service to the Community Award.

Tongan youth at Onehunga High School, Kelston Boys High School and Toko Collaboration with pharyngeal Group A Streptococcus will benefit from a smartphone application (app) called a Memory Angel. It will remind them to take their penicillin medication on time over the 10-day course. The initiative, between the Tongan Health Society and Healthstat NZ, which developed the app, will remind patients through their smartphones as part of the Ministry of Health National Rheumatic Fever Campaign funded by the PES Innovations Project which the Tongan Health Society will run.

Rising demands on the Tongan Health Society’s mental health service have resulted in an innovative way to meet those demands within budget.