The Australian Government is providing just over two and a half million US dollars to upgrade a midwifery school in Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.
The Australian Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, says the facilities at the Pacific Adventist University will boost the number and quality of midwvies in PNG.
She says the partnership with the private university and the PNG Government will increase the number of skilled supervised births and the use of family planning - the two proven methods to save mothers' and babies' lives.
Ms Bishop says up to 1,500 Papua New Guinean women are estimated to die during childbirth every year and the greatest chance of reversing these figures is through encouraging women to give birth in the presence of a trained midwife.
