Dr. Mele Fifita

Dr. Mele Fifita is a paediatrician at Vaiola Hospital in Nuku'alofa, providing child health services for Tongan children and coordinating paediatric referrals across Tonga's island groups. With 9 years of paediatric experience, Dr. Fifita manages the distinctive health challenges facing Tongan children, including extraordinarily high rates of childhood obesity and rheumatic fever.

Tonga has one of the highest childhood obesity prevalence rates in the world, driven by cultural dietary practices and economic factors. This early obesity leads to accelerated cardiovascular risk and early-onset type 2 diabetes in young Tongans. Rheumatic fever — caused by streptococcal throat infections in overcrowded households — remains a significant cause of preventable heart disease in Tongan children. Dr. Fifita's practice addresses both of these priorities alongside traditional paediatric conditions.

Dr. Fifita is bilingual in English and Tongan, which is essential for providing culturally appropriate health education to children and their families. She is the lead clinician for Vaiola Hospital's rheumatic fever secondary prophylaxis programme.

Dr. Fifita completed her MBBS at the Fiji School of Medicine. She obtained the Diploma in Child Health (DCH) from the Royal College of Physicians in Dublin and holds NRP and IMCI certifications.

She completed a paediatric clinical attachment at Middlemore Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand — a major referral centre for Pacific paediatric patients — and participated in a rheumatic fever management short course through the Starship Children's Hospital Pacific Programme. She participates in the Pacific Paediatric Society annual symposium and the Pacific Open Learning Health Net (POLHN) continuing paediatric education.

Dr. Fifita's clinical focus is on the principal paediatric health challenges in Tonga. She manages childhood obesity through nutritional counselling, lifestyle modification programmes, and screening for metabolic complications including pre-diabetes, dyslipidaemia, and hypertension in adolescents.

Rheumatic fever management is a major component of her practice. She diagnoses acute rheumatic fever using modified Jones criteria, manages acute rheumatic carditis, and coordinates the benzathine penicillin secondary prophylaxis programme to prevent recurrence and progression to rheumatic heart disease. She also manages neonatal conditions, respiratory infections, skin and soft tissue infections, and anaemia.

Dr. Fifita is dedicated to serving Tongan children and addressing the preventable causes of childhood morbidity in Tonga. She has contributed to rheumatic fever surveillance data through the Pacific Rheumatic Fever Research Group and has presented paediatric findings at the Tonga Medical Association Annual Meeting and Pacific Paediatric Society Symposium.

She collaborates with UNICEF Tonga and the Tonga Ministry of Health on childhood nutrition programmes and rheumatic fever prevention initiatives. Her work on improving benzathine penicillin prophylaxis completion rates in Tongan children has contributed to the national rheumatic fever prevention strategy.

Vaiola Hospital's paediatric ward serves children from Tongatapu and receives referrals from Ha'apai and Vava'u hospital groups. Children requiring specialist paediatric care not available in Tonga — including cardiac surgery for rheumatic heart disease, paediatric intensive care, and specialist oncology — are referred to New Zealand (Starship Children's Hospital, Auckland) through Tonga's medical referral programme.

Families of Tongan children living in New Zealand or Australia who are visiting Tonga may need paediatric care for their children during the visit. Dr. Fifita and her team at Vaiola Hospital can provide such care and liaise with New Zealand or Australian paediatric teams for continuity of care.

Dr. Fifita has been recognised by the Tonga Ministry of Health for her contributions to child health at Vaiola Hospital and her leadership of the rheumatic fever prophylaxis programme. She received a UNICEF Pacific Child Health acknowledgement for her work on childhood obesity prevention in Tonga.