15 Nov 2010

Australia provides aid to help PNG tackle cholera

9:38 am on 15 November 2010

The Australian Government is providing emergency support to Papua New Guinea after the outbreak of cholera on Daru Island, in PNG's Western Province.

Further medical supplies and emergency experts were due to arrive yesterday.

Australia's Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, said the situation in Western Province was difficult, with the outbreak occurring in an isolated area of the country where services were already stretched.

The assistance is additional to the emergency medical supplies that have been delivered through a joint PNG-Australia-World Health Organisation mission, which arrived in Daru last Thursday.

For the longer term, Australia and PNG have agreed to a new project in Western Province that will provide clean water to a number of villages along the coast of PNG adjacent to the Torres Strait.