10 Sep 2007

Solomon Islands tops health care in Pacific

10:41 am on 10 September 2007

The World Health Organisation or WHO says Solomon Islands is currently topping health care systems in the pacific region.

Solomon Islands is ranked 80th while Palau is at 82nd out of 191 member countries of the WHO.

The Solomon Islands Minister of Health and Medical services, Clay Forau, attributed the improvement in the country's WHO ranking to free accessibility to medical services and drugs to all citizens of the country.

Mr Forau said two major donor partners that heavily supported the Solomons health sector are the Republic of Taiwan and AusAID.

The other Pacific countries were Fiji ranked at 96, Nauru 98, Cook Islands 107, Samoa 119, Niue 121, FSM 123, Vanuatu 127, Tuvalu 136, Marshall Islands 141, Kiribati 142 and PNG 148.

The five top nations for health care were France, Italy, San Marino, Andorra and Malta.