The population of the Milne Bay Province face many problems mostly related to the remoteness of the islands and their communities.  The majority of the population of over 200,000 have limited access to government services such as education and health care. This has resulted in high levels of maternal death, infant mortality and malnutrition amongst children in the Milne Bay Province.  These are made worse by a lack of community awareness of issues associated with maternal and child health.  Government Health Services are provided through Community Health Centres and Aid Posts, 20 of which are run by the United Church. Funding, medicines and supplies for these services are provided by the PNG Government.  However, the funding available is inadequate to cover the costs of running the centres, especially in the Milne Bay region where travel is difficult and expensive.

One of the most important aspects of the mobile health clinics is mother and child health . These provide communities that cannot access a Health Centre or Aid Post with immunizations and health care for pregnant women and their children.  Nurses travel by small boats to the remote island communities every month to conduct these health checks.

UnitingWorld is providing the funds for the fuel needed to run the mobile clinics and for the servicing of outboard motors twice a year.  Funds are also being provided for the office support that is needed to help manage the activities across the health centres.

Downloadable Resources:

Project Sheet