Immunisation programme going well in Moresby

By GRACE AUKA
THE supplementary immunisation activity campaign in Port Moresby is progressing well in remote communities and urban schools.
Women and children in the remote community of Laloki, outside Port Moresby, have again been immunised, thanks to Child Fund PNG.
The SIA was conducted at the St. Peter’s Literacy School, Laloki yesterday.
About 100-plus people, including children under three, were vaccinated while the tetanus toxoid vaccine was given to women between 15 to 45 years. 
Headmaster Peter Laiam said he was grateful to Child Fund for providing such programmes for a remote community where proper health services had not been provided by the government.
“We don’t have proper health facilities but I thank Child Fund PNG and other donor agencies for having the heart and for their continuous support for our community,” Laiam said.
He said many of the women and children living in the community were illiterate and orphans and some of them had no knowledge of health issues.
But, he said, through the literacy programmes conducted, they were catching up with the rest of the people.
He is urging the government and the next member for the electorate to seriously look into such communities and provide basic services. 
The Supplementary Immunisation Activity (SIA) is a national programme organised by the Department of Health to immunise children and their mothers against polio, measles and tetanus.
It is a bi-annual event and this year runs from April to May 15.
Child Fund PNG’s Oksie Kunapa said they helped by involving the health programme officer and the village health volunteers from areas in Rigo district and Gulf province.
“It assists the provincial health team by providing necessary logistics like vehicles to make work easier in these remote areas,” he said.