Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Cholera outbreak continues in PNG

Updated at 4:58 pm on 7 August 2010

A cholera outbreak in Papua New Guinea remains a problem, a year after it began.

Suspected cases continue to be admitted to hospital in the capital, Port Moresby, with eight more this week.

Dr Tim Pyakalyia of the Cholera Taskforce says about 1200 people in the capital are still affected by the disease and an upgrade of the water system is still essential.

"Biggest problem in the city is a lack of proper water and sanitation," he says. "And public facilities like public toilets in the markets where we don't have proper running water and functioning toilets."

Radio New Zealand International reports cholera first surfaced in August last year in Morobe province and has since spread to Lae City, Madang, East Sepik and Port Moresby.

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