Mother & child in Milne Bay, PNG, taken during research into measles campaign. Photo: J Reeder
In Papua New Guinea ( NG) , our nearest neighbour, young children are still dying from vaccine-preventable illnesses such as measles.
Burnet staff from Melbourne have been working with government staff in PNG, who are responsible for managing epidemics, to not only improve the efficacy of the cold chain at the provincial and district levels so that vaccines remain potent but they have been building the capacity of local health staff in a number of key areas related to effectively tracking and responding to vaccine preventible illnesses, with a special focus on measles.
Our plan now is to build the capacity within the epidemiology department of the Ministry of Health to reduce child deaths from all vaccine preventable illnesses.