MEDIA RELEASE
31 July 2006
For immediate release
AUSAID INJECTS K7 MILLION INTO WHO-PNG HEALTH PROGRAM
AusAID, the Australian Government’s agency for international development, is giving more than seven million kina to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) PNG office to assist in its Stop TB Program over the next thirty months.
While AusAID has provided support to the program since 2001, this allocation will be used in the provision of technical support, and to build the response capacity of WHO’s country office. The move has received support from the National Department of Health as it falls in line with the Department’s priorities.
Priority areas that have been identified to receive technical support are TB and Leprosy; Disaster preparedness; Maternal and Child Health; Human Resources Development; and Epidemiology, which is the branch of medicine that deals with the study of the causes, distribution, and control of disease in populations.
Secretary for Department of Health, Dr Nicholas Mann said he warmly welcomed the support, especially in capacity building and in particular comprehensive HIV care and other priority areas.
“This additional support means we can build the skills of our people, and strengthen our effectiveness at all levels when it comes to managing outbreaks, and controlling the spread of many emerging diseases,” he said.
The K7 million funding to WHO PNG will compliment the ongoing support provided directly by AusAID to the National Department of Health, of approximately K90.6 million per year to provide capacity building, and for the implementation of the sector’s annual plan.
Notes to Editor
* PNG continues to be at the bottom of the Western Pacific Region in maternal and infant mortality; and around 60/1,000 life births are due to infectious diseases such as pneumonia, malaria, TB and diarrhoeal diseases remain very high.
* TB remains a major killer disease and the estimated incidence rate for TB is 235 cases per 100,000 population per year, or about 13,500 new cases reported each year.
* The HIV/AIDS epidemic exacerbates TB and currently about 20% of TB patients are HIV positive. Strengthening the TB program is essential when addressing the issue of HIV/AIDS.
* Nurses are largely responsible for the delivery of health services in rural areas in PNG, and are a target group under human resource development.
Media contact: Anna Awasa, Communications Officer, 325 933 ext 329
Mobile 693 1097