Cancer in the Solomon Islands

IntroductionThe Solomon Islands, with a population of 550,000, has significant challenges in addressing non-communicable diseases, including cancer, in the face of significant economic, cultural, general awareness and health system challenges.ObjectivesTo summarise the existing knowledge regarding cancer in the Solomon Islands, to gather new data and make recommendations.MethodsA literature review was undertaken and cancer data from the National Referral Hospital, Honiara were analysed and are presented. Key stakeholders were interviewed for their perspectives including areas to target for ongoing, incremental improvements. Last, a health services audit for cancer using the WHO SARA tool was undertaken.ResultsBreast and cervical cancer remain the first and second most commonly identified cancers in the Solomon Islands. The Solomons cancer registry is hospital based and suffers from incomplete data collection due to its passive nature, lack of resources for data entry and processing resulting in weak data which is rarely used for decision-making. The health system audit revealed system and individual reasons for delayed diagnosis or lack of cancer treatment or palliation in the Solomon Islands. Reasons included lack of patient knowledge regarding symptoms, late referrals to the National Referral Hospital and inability of health care workers to detect cancers either due to lack of skills to do so, or lack of diagnostic capabilities, and an overall lack of access to any health care, due to geographical barriers and overall national economic fragility.ConclusionThe Solomon Islands is challenged in preventing, diagnosing, treating and palliating cancer. Stakeholders recommend establishing specialty expertise (in the form of a cancer unit), improved registry processes and increased collaboration between the sole tertiary hospital nationwide and other Solomon health services as important targets for incremental improvement.     

Glavarioid fungi of the Solomon Islands

Twenty-five species in 13 genera are recorded. New taxa are Clavaria vermicularis Ft. var. latispora var. nov., Clavulinopsis brevipes Corner var. termitarii var. nov., C. fusispora Corner, C. solomonensis Corner, Physalacria solomonensis Corner, Pterula gordyus (Speg.) Corner var. macrospora var. nov., P. robusta Corner, Ramaria solomonensis Corner, R. zippelii (Lév.) Corner var. cristatospora var. nov. (also from Borneo), and Ramariopsis kunzei (Ft.) Donk var. megaspora var. nov. (also from Borneo and Tibet). The clavarioid flora is essentially Malaysian and pantropic.     

Genetic variation in Bougainville and Solomon Islands populations

This paper reports the findings of genetic variation in eight populations of the Solomon Islands. Blood specimens collected from 345 Aita, 191 Nasioi and 416 Nagovisi of Bougainville, 379 Lau, 453 Baegu and 385 Kwaio of Malaita, and 504 Ontong Java, and 328 Ulawa subjects were tested for A-B-O, M-N-S-s, Rh, Hp, Tf, secretor, and red-cell acid phosphatase systems. Considerable differences were found among the eight populations with respect to all polymorphic systems studied. It was not possible to distinguish Austronesian groups from non-Austronesian groups on the basis of gene frequencies.     

The distribution of some insects of the Solomon Islands

Among the Solomon Islands' insects two distribution patterns are important, a distinctive fauna on S. Cristoval, and a similarity between the islsnds of Bougainville, Choiseul and S. Ysabel. These result from the island area-fauna size relation, and the expansion of immigrants or island endemics which takes place most easily across the narrower water gaps, although different insects vary in their ability to cross them. The distributions of species in three heteropteran genera are interpreted as stages in a process of expansion, differentiation and replacement. Peculiarities of the S. Cristoval fauna are related to the island's isolation in terms of distance from major sources, rather than any conjectural geological history. However the Bougainville-S. Ysabel affinity coincides with a possible late Pleistocene land connexion.     

Marine protected areas and resilience to sedimentation in the Solomon Islands

The ability of marine protected areas (MPAs) to provide protection from indirect stressors, via increased resilience afforded by decreased impact from direct stressors, remains an important and unresolved question about the role MPAs can play in broader conservation and resource management goals. Over a five-year period, we evaluated coral and fish community responses inside and outside three MPAs within the Roviana Lagoon system in Solomon Islands, where sedimentation pressure from upland logging is substantial. We found little evidence that MPAs decrease impact or improve conditions and instead found some potential declines in fish abundance. We also documented modest to high levels of poaching during this period. Where compliance with management is poor, and indirect stressors play a dominant role in determining ecosystem condition, as appears to be the case in Roviana Lagoon, MPAs may provide little management benefit.     

The Role of Barrier Islands in Subsistence of the Inhabitants of Roviana Lagoon,Solomon Islands

This multidisciplinary study examines the strategy adopted by villagers in the Roviana Lagoon, South New Georgia, Solomon Islands, to cope with changing socioeconomic and demographic conditions. The study addresses land use, shifting cycles, land tenure, soil nutrients, subsistence production, vegetation, land cover change, and carrying capacity. The results suggested that even if a society had been integrated into the market economy and introduced cash cropping, they used a small island, which was fertile, mainly for traditional shifting cultivation under customary management. However, they used a large area of the main island for cultivation of potentially risky perennial cash crops for private income. This case suggests that a local society is able to develop a harmonized way of rural development, community welfare, and environmental preservation.     

Storage losses of taro corms in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate

In two storage trials, corms of taro (Colocasia esculenta) decayed and became unfit for human consumption after 1 to 2 weeks. There were three fairly distinct types of rot: A dry rot caused by Fusarium solani, a spongy black rot caused by Botryodiplodia theobromae, and a Sclerotium rot caused by S. rolfsii. Although it was found that, under humid conditions, all three fungi could penetrate and rot undamaged corms most natural infection is thought to occur through wounds. None of the pathogens rotted corms at low humidity.     

Custom Umbrellas (Poro) fromPandanus in Solomon Islands

The leaves ofPandanus dubius andP. solomonensis serve as a primary protective cover from the tropical sun and torrential rain in the Solomon Islands. A study of the process of manufacture and the present use was undertaken in 2 distinct geographical and linguistic areas of Guadalcanal to determine what features have enabled this traditional craft to survive relatively unaffected by over 100 yr of European contact. The traditional method of preparation and manufacture is described for the ethnobotanical record.     

A New Prenylflavonoid Isolated from Propolis Collected in the Solomon Islands

The new prenylflavonoid, solophenol A (1), together with three known compounds, bonannione A (2), sophoraflavanone A (3) and (2S)-5,7-dihydroxy-4'-methoxy-8-prenylflavanone (4), were isolated from propolis collected from Malaita Island in The Solomon Islands. The structure of each compound was determined by spectroscopic methods, including mass spectrometry and 2D NMR. Compound 1 exhibited potent 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical-scavenging activity.     

A new prenylflavonoid isolated from propolis collected in the Solomon Islands

The new prenylflavonoid, solophenol A (1), together with three known compounds, bonannione A (2), sophoraflavanone A (3) and (2S)-5,7-dihydroxy-4'-methoxy-8-prenylflavanone (4), were isolated from propolis collected from Malaita Island in The Solomon Islands. The structure of each compound was determined by spectroscopic methods, including mass spectrometry and 2D NMR. Compound 1 exhibited potent 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical-scavenging activity.     

Becoming Sinless: Converting to Islam in the Christian Solomon Islands

ABSTRACT   Islam is beginning to have a significant presence in the predominantly Christian nation of Solomon Islands. A few well-educated Islanders were drawn to Islam's elegant monotheism and promise of unity in the 1980s and early 1990s, but numbers have grown significantly in the years following a violent civil conflict (1998–2003). Many of these new Muslim converts, especially those from the island of Malaita, seem preoccupied with the problem of sin and blame Christianity for destroying customary rules, especially those enforcing gender segregation. Echoing long-standing Malaitan critiques of Christian freedom, they say that Christians rely too heavily on God's grace and their own ability to resist temptation. Unlike Christianity and similar to the traditional religion of the islands, Islam provides clear moral rules for living. Seeking an escape from a cycle of sin and redemption, these ex-evangelical Christians now see in Islam the possibility of becoming sinless.     

Contributions to the anatomy of Freycinetia species from the Solomon Islands

A preliminary investigation of six species of Freycinetia from the Solomon Islands indicates that the anatomy of this genus is relatively uniform, and differs only in degree rather than fundamental distinction from that of Pandanus. The complex elaboration of stomata found in some species of Pandanus is not seen in Freycinetia ; in the latter genus the elaboration, if any, involves only a few simple outgrowths from cells bordering the stomata, or extensions of the cuticle, whereas in some species of Pandanus well-developed branched papillae occur. The vascular bundles of both leaves and stems are strongly sheathed by thickened cells and the phloem is in two distinctive strands. The ovules of species of Freycinetia may provide characters useful taxonomically; the presence or absence, and orientation, of raphide bundles in the long funicles and the presence or absence and character of the strophiole appear to vary from species to species. Current work involving more species of Freycinetia from a wider area, together with Sararanga , may throw further light on the possible use of anatomical features as diagnostic aids.     

Prevalence of abnormal glucose tolerance in six Solomon Islands populations

A survey of blood glucose levels in six Solomon Islands populations may support the hypothesis that susceptibility to diabetes is almost absent among non-Austronesian-speaking Melanesians regardless of their level of modernization. Among Austronesian-speaking Melanesians, however, diabetes is emerging. Differences in prevalence rates of diabetes between Austronesians and non-Austronesian speakers in this survey are significant (P less than .0001).     

Dicyrtotnina and Ptenothrix (Insecta:Collembola) of the Solomon Islands

This paper deals primarily with the collembolan species of the subfamily Dicyrtominae collected during the Royal Society Expedition to the Solomon Islands of 1965 by P. N. Lawrence, supplemented by material from these islands collected by Dr and Mrs P. J. M. Greenslade, all of which is in the British Museum (Natural History). Additional supporting material described here has been derived from the Noona Dan Expedition of the Zoological Museum, Copenhagen and from the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Hawaii. I should like to express my thanks to the individuals and Museum sconcerned.     

Defining the need for public health control of scabies in Solomon Islands

Pacific Island countries have a high burden of scabies and impetigo. Understanding of the epidemiology of these diseases is needed to target public health interventions such as mass drug administration (MDA). The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of scabies and impetigo in Solomon Islands as well as the relationship between them and their distribution. We conducted a prevalence study in 20 villages in Western Province in Solomon Islands. All residents of the village were eligible to participate. Nurses conducted clinical assessments including history features and skin examination. Diagnosis of scabies was made using the 2020 International Alliance for the Control of Scabies diagnostic criteria. Assessments were completed on 5239 participants across 20 villages. Overall scabies prevalence was 15.0% (95%CI 11.8–19.1). There was considerable variation by village with a range of 3.3% to 42.6%. There was a higher prevalence of scabies in males (16.7%) than females (13.5%, adjusted relative risk 1.2, 95%CI 1.1–1.4). Children aged under two years had the highest prevalence (27%). Overall impetigo prevalence was 5.6% (95%CI 4.2–7.3), ranging from 1.4% to 19% by village. The population attributable risk of impetigo associated with scabies was 16.1% (95% CI 9.8–22.4). The prevalence of scabies in our study is comparable to previous studies in Solomon Islands, highlighting a persistent high burden of disease in the country, and the need for public health strategies for disease control.