The European Union has funded a Public Health Laboratory in Kiribati to help combat climate change diseases such as dengue fever there.
The Kiribati Minister of Health, Kautu Tenaua, says the refurbished and expanded laboratory in Tarawa is essential to safeguarding I-Kiribati people.
Dr Tenaua says funding for the laboratory is acknowledging that outbreaks of climate sensitive diseases such as dengue fever, diarrhoea and giardiasis are becoming more frequent.
He says the diseases are being better understood through improved surveillance and research.
The 17-million US dollar Global Climate Change Alliance Pacific Small Islands States project assists a number of nations in making infrastructure, policies and national budgets inclusive of climate change impacts.
