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Samoa faces a childhood obesity crisis, with a rising prevalence of diabetes and high blood pressure among children as young as six, according to a new Yale School of Public Health study. Genetic and environmental factors contribute to this worrying trend, requiring targeted interventions to address the issue.

YSPH researchers are studying obesity in Samoa, including the first longitudinal study of child health in the Pacific.

In a recent study, researchers at the School of Public Health found that despite successful local efforts to improve mental health infrastructure, more steps must be taken to combat mental illness among adolescents in American Samoa.

On the morning of the 12th annual Global Health Day, March 16, 2023, Sheela Shenoi, MD, MPH, associate director of the Internal Medicine Office of Global Health and associate professor of medicine (infectious diseases) announced the winners of this year’s Global Health awards. Anne Havlik, MPH, won the Asghar Rastegar Global Health Medical Education & Capacity Building Award, and Kenneth Gunasekera, MD, PhD, won the Gerald Friedland Global Health Research Award.

The American Samoa Community College (ASCC) and Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) have signed a memorandum of understanding creating an official partnership.

A new research letter published in JAMA Pediatrics is the first to compare two methodological approaches to neonatal mortality rates side-by-side.

A survey of 15 fathers from American Samoan investigated their views about breastfeeding. The fathers showed strong support for breastfeeding—the best way to feed a child, build the mother-baby bond, save money, and maintain cultural norms. The fathers strongly supported more breastfeeding education for fathers. They emphasised the need for practical advice, rather than information about why breastfeeding is important (which they understood already).

Samoa should develop a national breastfeeding policy and ratify international maternity protections to better support women with newborns, says a public health specialist. The United Nations reports 81 per cent of Samoa’s babies are being breastfed from birth, and seven in 10 are being exclusively breastfed for their first six months, which are results to be commended. But the remaining 19 per cent of babies need to be addressed, and Christina Soti-Ulberg believes both national and international plans could go a long way to improve the situation.

Samoa is performing better than the regional average in breastfeeding children from an early age through until 23 months, a new child’s nutrition report has found.