Australia gains praise for increasing its assistance

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Tuesday 4th September, 2012

By SHIRLYN BELDEN
AUSTRALIA’S announcement to increase its assistance to victims of family and sexual violence in the Pacific has gained praise from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).
The international medical humanitarian organisation operating in parts of the country said the initiative by the Australian government would bring impact to the work of sexual victim support in Papua New Guinea.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard last week announced the increased assistance to victims of family and sexual violence in the Pacific as part of the A$320 million Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development initiative.   
MSF hopes to see more developments in the area of sexual violence, which is affecting 70% of women and girls in PNG and the Solomon Islands.
“The immediate, important health needs of individual survivors of family and sexual violence are often overlooked, which can have a significant negative impact on long-term health of survivors.
“So we welcome the expansion of health care available to these
patients as part of the focus of the Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development initiative,” MSF said in a statement last week.
The head of mission in PNG Paul Brockmann said a balanced response like this was needed for the prevention, justice and care for the survivors’ immediate needs of medical and psychological support.
MSF hopes the increased funding will:
l    Open and strengthen family support centres in all provincial hospitals;
l    Improve tracking and reporting tools to accurately measure the prevalence of family and sexual violence in all regions;
l    Make specific plans to expand provision of medical and psychological support to the district and local levels throughout PNG, and,
l    Formalise a standard certificate to validate specialised training for nurses and midwives in providing care for survivors of sexual and family violence.
MSF operates several family support centres in partnership with local government-run hospitals.
The centres have provided medical and psychological first-aid care, treatment of injuries, emergency prophylaxis for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, emergency contraception, psychosocial support and follow-up care.