DOCTOR Joseph Takai, who leads health outbreak and emergency response actions in Tonga as a Senior Medical Officer with the country’s Ministry of Health, shares his experience as the first WHO health emergency “leader” fellow.
WHO’s Western Pacific Regional Office works with Member States and areas to strengthen health emergency preparedness and response, including via crucial capacity-building programmes where countries share experiences and lessons learnt.
This is one such story.
From clinic to community
When I walked out of medical school in 2014, like most young doctors, I saw medicine through a narrow lens: one patient, one diagnosis, one treatment pathway. This worldview was overturned during my first posting at ‘Eua, an outer island in Tonga.
Responsible for the roughly 3000 people residing in ‘Eua, I had to manage everything from emergency surgeries to the logistics of the health clinic. I realized that if I only waited for people to show up at my door, I was already losing the battle. I started joining nurses on home visits, sitting with the elderly who couldn’t make it to the hospital, and working out strategies to address vaccine hesitancy.
This was the doorway into my public health career.
Several years later, we were hit by the 2019 measles outbreak. We were still catching our breath when COVID-19 arrived on the horizon. Those years were a whirlwind of crisis management, but they solidified my conviction: individual health is inseparable from the health of the collective.
The Pacific Challenge: Small numbers, high stakes
When an outbreak hits a small island nation like Tonga, the doctor who treats you in the morning might be the same person managing the national vaccination cold chain by afternoon. Pacific islands have small, dedicated teams that must scale up instantly to meet a crisis. Our challenges are distinct: we face geographic isolation, limited specialized personnel, and the infodemic of misinformation that spreads through close-knit communities faster than any virus.
The pandemic taught us a hard lesson: in the midst of a crisis, you don’t have the luxury of building a team from scratch. In Tonga, our numbers are small, and we didn’t have the right processes in place to respond to the pandemic. We had not planned for a COVID-19 scenario and struggled to respond to an outbreak landscape that was constantly shifting.
As the outbreak response team lead, I was on the front line of Tonga’s COVID-19 response, and saw first hand how crucial it is to have a well-connected emergency workforce, not only within the country, but across the Western Pacific Region. We needed a workforce that was well-connected, prepared for any scenario, and adaptive.
Strengthening the shield: investing in emergency workforce
The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Emergency Corps (GHEC) initiative was born out of this recognition: that a global health response is only as strong as its weakest link. GHEC focuses on strengthening the emergency workforce across three essential layers: those on the front line, those surging in response to an outbreak, and those leading outbreak responses.
To connect and support those leading outbreak responses, WHO launched a new initiative under the WHO Western Pacific Health Emergency Corps Fellowship programme for health leaders across the Region. In 2025, I had the opportunity to become the first “leader” fellow in this programme.
The Fellowship was an opportunity to step outside the Tonga, Pacific island, perspective, switch to a regional lens, and learn from systems that other countries in the Western Pacific Region have implemented to enhance emergency preparedness. For instance, I was introduced to Mongolia’s newly established public health emergency operation centre (PHEOC) that will support response activities during health emergencies or outbreaks. PHEOCs enable seamless coordination and communication during a crisis. We are now working on establishing one in Tonga and hope to have it up and running before the end of this year.
I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to connect with and learn from 37 countries and areas across the Western Pacific through my fellowship with WHO. Ultimately, this investment in leadership creates a resilient regional network – strands woven into one unified front – safeguarding the health of every community across the Western Pacific.
I’m reminded of the Tongan proverb Pikipiki hama ka tau vaevae manava, which is rooted in voyaging traditions and signifies unity and mutual support during challenging times. It refers to the practice of navigators on rough seas who would lash together their canoes, allowing each other to “vaevae manava” – or catch their breath – before continuing on.
The WHO Fellowship offers health leaders across the Western Pacific an opportunity to lash our canoes together, to learn from and lean on each other.
Pikipiki hama ka tau vaevae manava
When I led Tonga’s COVID-19 front-line response, I remember grappling with serious concerns regarding how we were going to manage with our limited resources, who we could turn to for support, and what other countries were doing to manage an unpredictable epidemiological curve.
Now, with the strength of a regional emergency workforce network under my wings, I feel confident that I can count on our collective knowledge, support, and solidarity to bring Tonga through any emergency scenario.
Together we are stronger.
Source: WHO
