Overcrowding on Tuvalu's main atoll of Funafuti is suspected to be behind high rates of rheumatic heart disease among children living there.
Specialists were on the atoll last month to screen children for the disease which starts with a sore throat and can end up damaging heart valves.
The Pacific is second to Africa with the highest rates of the disease and paediatrician Dr Toakase Fakakovikaetau told Sally Round she wasn't surprised by what she found in Tuvalu.
A boy being screened for rheumatic heart disease in Tuvalu Photo: RNZ/Sally Round
