Dr Miliama Simeona and Dr Nese Ituaso-Conway were the first Tuvaluan female doctors who after graduating from the Fiji School of Medicine with a MBBS Bachelor Medicine and Surgery degree and a Diploma Primary Health Care and Preventive Medicine, both spent 12 months as an intern at the main hospital in Suva before returning to Tuvalu in 1999. From April 1999 to March 2001, Dr Miliama Simeona was a Medical Officer with the Ministry of Health Tuvalu. In 2001 and 2002 she attended the Fiji School Medicine and graduated with a post graduate diploma in Obstetrics and Gynecology. She was employed as the Obstetrician Gynaecologist at Princess Margaret Hospital (Funafuti), from January 2002 to April 2011. She was then appointed as the Executive Director of the Tuvalu Family Health Association, which works to improve family health in Tuvalu through the provision of information and services. It is a member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). She passed away on 27 September 2020.