The Handover Ceremony of the donation of antimalarial drugs and mosquito nets to Papua New Guinea (PNG) was held in Chinese Embassy in PNG on 14th April 2016. Mr. Li Ruiyou, Ambassador of China to PNG, Ms. Hakaua Harry, Secretary for National Planning and Monitoring, Mr. Cai Shuizeng, Economic and Commercial Counsellor of the Embassy and officers from Department of National Planning and Monitoring and Department of Health attended the Ceremony. Post Carrier’s correspondent reported on the event.
Ambassador Li and Secretary Harry signed the Handover Certificate on behalf of the governments of China and PNG respectively, officially handing/taking over the donation from the Chinese Government to the PNG Government. Secretary Harry expressed her thanks for China’s generosity, saying that the antimalarial drugs are what PNG needs for fighting the disease that is epidemic in PNG.
Malaria is a very harmful tropical disease which has become a big burden for the PNG Government. Meanwhile, PNG as a developing country has been heavily tasked to improve its healthcare conditions. By request of PNG government, the Chinese government decided to present a batch of antimalarial materials to PNG to assist its fighting against malaria.
The Chinese Government is pleased to support PNG’s public health improvements. Since 2002, China has dispatched medical teams to work with their counterparts in the Port Moresby General Hospital. At the beginning of this year, the Australia-China-Papua New Guinea Trilateral Cooperation on Malaria Control Project was launched in Port Moresby, which aims to significantly improve PNG's prevention and control capacity of malaria.