On October 1, The Australian Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, went to Papua New Guinea (PNG), where he visited the Moreguina Health Centre. The purpose of the visit was to deliver medical supplies and announce $64 million to improve the for the health sector in PNG. About one thousand villagers from Abau District in Papua New Guinea were there to welcome him.
Voicing his concern for the health of the people in PNG, Mr. Rudd said, ‘Some 80 per cent of the population in PNG live in rural and very remote areas where health services are poor or non-existent, and they are dying of preventable and treatable diseases. Children in villages are dying from pneumonia and women are dying in childbirth at the rate of five a day in PNG, many of them in rural or remote areas.
Mr Rudd also announced Australia’s contribution of $40 million to an $80 million Asian Development Bank project that aims to develop 32 new community health posts and re-establish128 health centers. The money will also be utilized to provide housing for 224 staff members.
All these centers will be equipped with the basic amenities, including 24-hour running water and electricity, sanitation facilities and critical medical equipment. Moreover, to provide better health services, in-service training will also be provided to community health workers. The project will also try to develop partnerships with churches and the private sector. It aims train the health workers in 16 districts across eight provinces in PNG, in order to improve their medical skills.
Mr. Rudd told that Australia will also provide a further $24 million to purchase medical supplies, like vaccines and birthing kits required in the 3,000 health centers and aid posts in 2012.
According to Mr. Rudd, ‘What we are trying to do is to boost the health of 1.2 million people in Papua New Guinea who otherwise would have a real problem, and may die. 1.2 million out of this wonderful country of nearly 7 million people. We want to make a difference, and that’s why we are here.’
He further added, ‘So what we want to do, as your friends in Australia, is come back here in one year’s time to make sure that it is different; that the number of little babies who are dying in childbirth is reduced; to make sure that those who are getting infections very early in their lives is reduced in number and that the number of little babies surviving to the age of five increases. And so next year, one year from now, we are going to have a test to make sure it is happening here on the ground.’
