Health authorities in Vanuatu are collecting data as part of a project for a comprehensive digital map of medical and disaster resources throughout the Pacific.
An incubator room in a Vanuatu hospital. Photo: RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson
The acting principal pharmacist at the Ministry of Health said the information would lead to better co-ordination of healthcare, medication, staffing and equipment and make sure training and resources were focussed where they were needed.
Agnes Mathias said the project is called Tupaia, after James Cook's navigator, and the data being logged into the maps would give a detailed bird's eye view of the size and location of health resources.
"All this information we will get so we know where you can access medicine from each of the health facilities and whether it's expired or not expired, and so availability of the medicines all across the country," Agnes Mathias said.
People wait to be seen at the main hospital in Port Vila after Cyclone Pam. One wing was left standing. Photo: RNZI / Koroi Hawkins
She said the public can see the mapping for the already completed countries of Solomon Islands, Tonga and Kiribati at www.tupaia.org .
