Dr. Lupe So'o

Dr. Lupe So'o is the principal paediatrician at Tupua Tamasese Meaole (TTM) Hospital, Samoa's national referral hospital, managing child health for one of the Pacific's youngest populations. With 10 years of paediatric experience, Dr. So'o has developed a practice tailored to the specific health challenges facing Samoan children — including the extraordinarily high rates of childhood obesity, rheumatic fever, and the emerging epidemic of adolescent type 2 diabetes.

Samoa has among the highest rates of childhood obesity in the world, reflecting cultural dietary practices, genetic predisposition, and economic factors. This drives early-onset cardiovascular risk, adolescent type 2 diabetes, and metabolic complications that Dr. So'o manages alongside traditional paediatric conditions including respiratory infections, neonatal care, and immunisation-preventable diseases.

Dr. So'o is bilingual in English and Samoan, allowing her to communicate effectively with children and their families and to provide culturally appropriate health education. She is an IMCI trainer at TTM Hospital, building the capacity of nurses and junior medical officers in integrated childhood illness management.

Dr. So'o completed her MBBS at the Fiji School of Medicine in Suva. She subsequently obtained the Diploma in Child Health (DCH) from the Royal College of Physicians in Dublin, a recognised postgraduate qualification in paediatrics.

She holds Newborn Resuscitation Programme (NRP) certification and is a WHO-certified IMCI trainer. She completed a paediatric clinical attachment at Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand — a major Pacific regional paediatric referral centre — gaining experience in managing complex childhood conditions including congenital heart disease and severe asthma. She participates in the Pacific Open Learning Health Net (POLHN) continuing paediatric education programme.

Dr. So'o's clinical practice addresses the specific paediatric health challenges of Samoa. In the neonatal period, she manages premature infants, neonatal infections, jaundice, and birth asphyxia. In older children, she focuses on childhood obesity and its metabolic complications — including screening for pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes in adolescents — asthma, rheumatic fever prevention and management, and respiratory infections.

Rheumatic fever is a particular concern in Samoa, given overcrowded housing conditions and Group A streptococcal throat infections in children. Dr. So'o manages acute rheumatic fever and coordinates secondary prophylaxis (penicillin injections) to prevent rheumatic heart disease. She oversees TTM Hospital's immunisation programme for children.

Dr. So'o is dedicated to serving Samoan children and addressing the childhood NCD epidemic. She has contributed to childhood obesity prevalence data in the Samoa NCD STEPS Survey and presented paediatric findings at the Pacific Paediatric Society Symposium and the Samoa Medical Association Annual Meeting.

She collaborates with UNICEF Samoa and the WHO Pacific Office on childhood immunisation surveillance and rheumatic fever prevention programmes. Her work on adolescent type 2 diabetes screening at TTM Hospital has contributed to Samoa's national adolescent health strategy.

TTM Hospital's paediatric ward serves children from across Samoa, including Savai'i island referrals. Children with conditions requiring specialist paediatric surgery, cardiac intervention, or paediatric intensive care — services unavailable in Samoa — are referred to New Zealand (Starship Children's Hospital, Auckland) or Fiji.

Parents of Samoan children living in New Zealand or Australia who are visiting Samoa and need paediatric care can access TTM Hospital's paediatric outpatient clinic. Complex cases are discussed with the paediatric team at Starship Auckland through the established referral pathway.

Dr. So'o has been recognised by the Samoa Ministry of Health for her contributions to child health at TTM Hospital. She received a UNICEF Pacific Child Health acknowledgement for her work on rheumatic fever prevention in Samoa and has been commended by the Samoa Medical Association for her role as IMCI trainer.