Launch of the Australia-China-PNG Trilateral Malaria Project
The governments of Australia, the People’s Republic of China and Papua New Guinea today commenced a trilateral partnership to combat malaria in Papua New Guinea.
The ‘Australia-China-Papua New Guinea Pilot Cooperation on Malaria Control’ is a first for the Asia Pacific region, and comes at the formal invitation of the PNG Government’s National Department of Health.
Through the project, the three countries will focus on working with the National Department of Health, the Central Public Health Laboratory and the Institute of Medical Research to improve malaria diagnosis within PNG by strengthening laboratory services and research.
Over the next three years, 2016-2018, Australia’s aid program will provide PGK 8 million in project funding and China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission will provide technical expertise as well as an in-kind contribution for this important health initiative.
The project complements the Australian aid program’s focus on strengthening PNG’s health systems by improving the capacity of key PNG medical institutions to correctly diagnose and treat malaria.
China has made huge progress in malaria prevention and control in the past six decades and accumulated much first-hand experience in this field. China is ready to share her experience and expertise with Papua New Guinea to combat this disease.
Papua New Guinea accounts for 89 per cent of all malaria cases in the Pacific region and malaria is found in all provinces, which represents a major health and economic burden for PNG. On average 1.5 to 1.8 million suspected cases of malaria are seen at healthcare facilities across PNG every year.
The trilateral partnership directly supports the Government of PNG’s priorities for Malaria in the National Malaria Strategic Plan 2014-2018 – Achieving and sustaining universal Coverage and access to malaria control intervention.