After World War II, the U.S. Navy set off a series of 67 nuclear explosions in Micronesia over a dozen years. That’s the equivalent of more than 7,000 Hiroshima bombs. Today, many of the islands remain radioactive.
Dr. Neal Palafox of the University of Hawaiʻi medical school has been researching the Micronesian population since the 1980s — including the impact of nuclear fallout.
“It contaminated the folks — direct radiation fallout — very, very high levels of radiation," Palafox said. "The current studies have shown out of the NCI (National Cancer Institute) that you can’t set up a wall for where the nuclear testing goes, and so it actually went all over the Marshall Islands … and it’s been shown the footprint of the radioactive strontium has actually reached Guam.”
Palafox and other health experts believe the Micronesians’ health was both directly and indirectly affected by the nuclear bombings.
Dr. David Derauf, executive director of Kōkua Kalihi Valley clinic, says the nuclear tests also disrupted the Micronesians’ traditional diets, resulting in chronic disease.
“All of the chronic diseases: hypertension; diabetes is very, very prevalent; … chronic kidney disease — very high rates of people requiring dialysis; cancer — we see much higher rates of cancer; coronary artery disease — all of which require constant medical attention," Derauf told Hawaiʻi Public Radio.
The U.S. government approved the Compact of Free Association, or COFA, in 1986 for the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau.
It allowed those residents to live and work in the U.S. without a visa and gave them access to health care via Medicaid. But Micronesians were suddenly dropped from Medicaid as part of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act.
Nearly two decades later, about 8,000 were transferred to plans under the Affordable Care Act.
In Hawaiʻi Public Radio's next report, we’ll explain how that led to other complications — including here in Hawaiʻi. Stay tuned for parts two and three, examining Micronesians' struggle for health care in Hawaiʻi.
