ChildFund delivers medical equipment to PNG health clinics

ChildFund has delivered a range of medical equipment to rural health clinics in Papua New Guinea. Presentation of the equipment was made at Kwikila health clinic, an hour and a half from Port Moresby. The clinic currently operates an outpatient and children’s ward, and plans are under way for a maternity clinic to be established.

The equipment includes baby-weighing scales, fetal scopes, thermometers, tape measures and malaria rapid testing kits, and will be used by rural clinics and aid posts throughout Rigo District, Central Province.

The delivery of the equipment is part of a wider healthcare program being implemented by ChildFund to improve maternal and child health in the area. ChildFund has also trained a number of village health volunteers to help raise awareness of healthcare issues in their communities, such as symptoms of childhood illness, and provide healthcare information and referrals.

ChildFund PNG program manager Manish Joshi says that since ChildFund began working in the area, there have been improvements in child health, including a decrease in cases of malnutrition. “It has improved in part because we have trained the village health volunteers who also carry out awareness on such issues, which has been a big help to us.”

Country director Andrew Ikupu emphasised the importance of partnership, noting that government health workers and communities needed to work together with ChildFund to deliver effective health services.

Another delivery of equipment will be made to health clinics in Gulf Province in the coming weeks.