Papua New Guinea

Save the Children New Zealand is actively supporting health programmes in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Recent health indicators suggest that maternal and infant mortality rates in PNG are among some of the worst in the Pacific. There is also a prevalence of malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/ AIDS, and other communicable diseases.

Thanks to the support of the New Zealand government, we are training Village Health Volunteers who can serve remote communities that don’t have access to the public health system.

They are dispensing critical medicines, assisting with child births and serving as a link between villagers and the nearest health centre.

The programme has grown to include HIV/AIDS prevention and a Youth Outreach Programme.

It focuses on self-reliance and as a result of the programme, community members in more than 800 remote villages are now able to access basic health care and benefit from assisted birth and family planning services.

Another aspect of this programme includes upgrading and constructing health facilities, training centres and staff housing, so that health centres are easier to reach and of a higher quality when patients arrive.

Our other programmes in the Pacific

Fiji