Sione Tapa
Sione Tapa(30 October 1923 – 9 May 2018)[1]was aTonganpolitician, physician, and philanthropist. He was the first Tongan to graduate with a medical degree.[2]He served as Tonga's Health Minister from 1970 to 1996.
Tapa was born inNukuʻalofaand educated atTonga Collegeand theFiji School of Medicine.[3]After graduating in 1944, he attendedAuckland Grammar School[4]and then theUniversity of Otago,graduating in 1953 with an MB ChB.[2]He worked as a medical officer for the Tongan government from 1955 to 1970, when he was appointed Minister of Health, a role he held until 1996.[1]He also served as actingMinister of Financefrom September 1970 to May 1971 whileMahe 'Uli'uli Tupouniuawas studying overseas,[5]and again from November 1972 to January 1981.[1]
In May 1977 he was elected president of the 30thWorld Health Assembly,[6]He was later chair of theWorld Health OrganizationRegional Committee for the Western Pacific from 1982 to 1983, and a member of the WHO Executive Board from 1989 to 1990.[1]In 1991 he was awarded the WHO Health-for-All Gold Medal.[7]
In 2012 he donated TP$1 million saved from his ministerial salary to establish a scholarship for students who wanted to study health.[1]
Honours
[edit]- National honours
Order of Queen Sālote Tupou III,Grand Cross (31 July 2008).[8]
References
[edit]- ^abcde"Humble, ethical lifestyle shaped career of Tongan philanthropist and Minister".kaniva Tonga. 1 June 2018.Retrieved5 January2022.
- ^ab"150 Alumni Heroes: Leaders".University of Otago magazine.No. 48.Retrieved5 January2022.
- ^"Dr Sione Tapa"(PDF).South Pacific Commission.Retrieved5 January2022.
- ^"TONGAN STUDENTS IN NZ".Pacific Islands Monthly.Vol. XVIII, no. 10. p. 76.Retrieved5 January2022– via National Library of Australia.
- ^"People".Pacific Islands Monthly.Vol. 41, no. 10. 1 October 1970. p. 93.Retrieved5 January2022– via National Library of Australia.
- ^"W.H.O. DIRECTOR'S CRITICISM Health service 'waste'".Canberra Times.5 May 1977. p. 4.Retrieved5 January2022– via National Library of Australia.
- ^"Award of the WHO health-for-all gold medal to Dr Sione Tapa: citation".World Health Organization. 10 September 1991.Retrieved5 January2022.
- ^"Royal orders presented at Palace".Matangi Tonga. 1 August 2008. Archived fromthe originalon 21 January 2021.Retrieved2 January2022.
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- 1923 births
- 2018 deaths
- People from Nukuʻalofa
- Fiji School of Medicine alumni
- University of Otago alumni
- Members of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga
- Ministers of finance of Tonga
- Ministers of health of Tonga
- Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Queen Sālote Tupou III
- Oceanian politician stubs
- Tongan people stubs