Market managers undergo training

PAPUA New Guinea’s first healthy marketplace training for market managers is expected to serve as a catalyst for healthier markets in future.
The training held in Kokopo, East New Britain (ENB), last week, coincided with the declaration of Kokopo Town Market as a model healthy marketplace in the country.
Each province was expected to send a representative, but due to lack of finance, only four market managers were able to make it, the rest of the participants were from ENB.
National Department of Health manager for environmental health, Rose Kavanamur, said this was an important meeting which she hoped would be attended by representatives from all the provinces next year.
According to the Health Department, the six objectives of last week’s training included revitalising the healthy island concept; creating awareness of the settings approach in addressing health issues; introduction of a new concept called traditional food market; and, to get market managers throughout the country together to share what they were doing on the ground, what were the issues being faced and how the department could help to address those issues to improve markets.