PNG food distribution nearing the end

2:03 pm on 8 September 2016

A massive food distribution to drought victims in Papua New Guinea is set to finish this month.

Hundreds of thousands of people throughout PNG had faced severe food shortages following a prolonged drought, prompting the PNG government, the United Nations and civil society groups to start distributing food.

UNDP Resident Representative in PNG, Roy Trivedy.

UNDP Resident Representative in PNG, Roy Trivedy. Photo: Network of International Development Organisations.

The head of the UN System in PNG, Roy Trivedy, said people in the outer islands around Milne Bay and parts of Enga in the Highlands are still getting the food deliveries, while nutrition programmes have been launched in other areas.

He said once people have been able to reap their first full harvest after the drought they will assess the lessons learned from the work.

"Those are really important because we want to make sure that together with the National Disaster Management team that we really learn what some of the lessons are and to build on those for the future."

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