Translating the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Score into Samoan using a modified back translation methodology.

BACKGROUND: Although Samoan women have a high prevalence of obesity and multiple parity which are risk factors of pelvic organ prolapse, there is no prevalence data on this condition. AIMS: Translate the Pelvic Organ Prolapse-Symptoms Score (POP-SS) from English into Samoan, MATERIALS AND METHODS: Standardised methods for translating questionnaires, individual face to face audio-recorded interviews in which women completed the POP-SS using a Think Aloud method, analysis using a Framework approach. RESULTS: The POP-SS was successfully translated in to Samoan, an additional information leaflet was developed to support women's understanding of what prolapse is, 14 Samoan women were recruited of which 13 were interviewed and completed the POP-SS, results of POP-SS (scores), results of think aloud, results in terms of research experience. CONCLUSIONS: A Samoan version of the POP-SS is now available for further evaluation of its psychometric properties prior to wider use. The team continue to collaborate on their work on establishing the prevalence of prolapse whilst building local research capacity.

Challenges to NGOs' ability to bid for funding due to the repatriation of volunteers: The case of Samoa.

Although there are an increasing number of funding facilities accessible for non-government organisations in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, critics suggest that it is still insufficient. Non-government organisations provide many essential services across the world, especially in the developing world, where they supplement or in some instances extend the government services. With services from health to gender issues to humanitarian support, non-government organisations continue to grapple with insufficiency of core and programming funding and unstable staffing. In Samoa, technical assistance through government volunteers supplemented the need for expert human resource and enabled the ability to apply for funding. With the mass repatriation of government volunteers such as Australian Volunteers, American Peace Corps and Japanese International Cooperation Agency, it resulted in a sudden and massive gap in technical human resource, equipped to apply for the rapidly expanding number of funding options. Through the experiences of a non-government organisation worker and an academic researcher based in Samoa, this piece shares the current experiences and potential repercussions of this sudden change in the non-government sector and suggestions moving forward to utilize the existing expertise in country in the academic sector to support non-government organizations to access funding.

COVID-19 vaccines: Getting Anti-vaxxers involved in the discussion.

As studies continue into the development of a vaccine for COVID-19, research to understand and address the concerns raised by anti-vaxxers about vaccinations should also be undertaken in tandem. Using the experience of Samoa, which was recently impacted by a measles epidemic, the authors discuss the importance of vaccination to developing countries and the devastation that can be wrought by vaccine-preventable diseases. There are fewer laws on vaccination of adults when compared to those applicable for children, and not all countries have mandatory vaccination laws in place. With increasing anti-vaxxer rhetoric towards the COVID-19 vaccine that is currently in development, the focus has been on reducing the spread of the misinformation through penalties or company interventions, but less so on addressing the underlying concerns of the anti-vaxxer community. The authors suggest that involving anti-vaxxers in the discussion is critical to the acceptance and uptake of the vaccine to COVID-19 when it becomes available.