Dr. Ruth Beti

Dr. Ruth Beti is the senior paediatrician in the Paediatric Ward at the National Referral Hospital (NRH) in Honiara, serving as the principal specialist in child health for the Solomon Islands. With 10 years of paediatric experience, Dr. Beti manages the full range of childhood illnesses encountered in a Pacific island nation with limited resources and a high infectious disease burden.

The Solomon Islands has one of the highest malaria transmission rates in the Pacific, and childhood malaria — including severe cerebral malaria — is a leading cause of paediatric admission and mortality at NRH. Dr. Beti's practice is heavily oriented around malaria management, alongside childhood malnutrition, neonatal infections, pneumonia, and diarrhoeal disease. She also leads the neonatal ward at NRH and manages premature newborns and birth asphyxia.

Dr. Beti is a passionate advocate for improving child health outcomes in the Solomon Islands and works closely with UNICEF, WHO, and the Solomon Islands Ministry of Health on child health programmes including immunisation, nutrition, and IMCI (Integrated Management of Childhood Illness).

Dr. Beti completed her MBBS at the Fiji School of Medicine, the regional medical school serving the Pacific islands. She subsequently obtained the Diploma in Child Health (DCH) from the Royal College of Physicians in Dublin — a recognised postgraduate qualification in paediatrics.

She has completed WHO IMCI (Integrated Management of Childhood Illness) training, Newborn Resuscitation Programme (NRP) certification, and the UNICEF/WHO Helping Babies Breathe programme. She has undertaken clinical attachments in the paediatric department at Colonial War Memorial Hospital, Fiji, gaining experience in managing severe malaria and malnutrition in Pacific island children.

Dr. Beti's primary clinical focus is managing the major causes of childhood illness and death in the Solomon Islands: severe malaria (including cerebral malaria), pneumonia, severe acute malnutrition, diarrhoeal disease with dehydration, neonatal infections, and birth asphyxia. She is the NRH's lead clinician for the Therapeutic Feeding Centre, managing severely malnourished children using WHO protocols.

In neonatal care, Dr. Beti manages premature infants, neonatal sepsis, jaundice, and birth complications. She is responsible for newborn resuscitation training at NRH and ensures all delivery suite staff maintain essential neonatal resuscitation skills. She also manages childhood anaemia — a common presentation in the malaria-endemic Solomon Islands.

Dr. Beti is dedicated to serving Solomon Islands children and contributing to the development of child health services across the nation's remote island communities. She has presented paediatric malaria management data at the Pacific Paediatric Society Meeting and contributed to UNICEF's Solomon Islands MICS (Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey) child health module.

She collaborates with the Solomon Islands Ministry of Health's child health division and WHO on the national immunisation programme, childhood disease surveillance, and IMCI training roll-out to health facilities in the provinces. She is a co-investigator on a Pacific malaria study examining antimalarial drug resistance in children.

The NRH Paediatric Ward serves children from across the Solomon Islands, including those transferred from provincial hospitals and rural health centres for conditions beyond local management capacity. Children with conditions requiring specialist paediatric surgery or paediatric intensive care are referred to Fiji (Colonial War Memorial Hospital) or Australia.

Parents of children with serious conditions should note that specialist paediatric surgical and intensive care services are not available in the Solomon Islands. Dr. Beti and her team can advise on appropriate referral options and coordinate with the Ministry of Health's medical referral programme for overseas treatment.

Dr. Beti has been recognised by the Solomon Islands Ministry of Health and Medical Services for her dedication to child health at the National Referral Hospital. She received a UNICEF Pacific Child Health Champion commendation and an acknowledgement from WHO for her contributions to the Solomon Islands IMCI training programme and childhood malaria management protocols.