Renovations are nearly completed on two birth houses in the Milne Bay Province to allow mothers in rural settings accessibility to proper delivery facilities.
The birth houses are located in Tukwaukwa and Obweria villages respectively on Losuia in Kiriwina Island.
The project is undertaken by the Bank South Pacific as part of its 2017 community projects focus.
The projects were selected when a request was made to repair one of the buildings that had been damaged by a fallen coconut tree leaving part of the rooms exposed to weather.
BSP staff assisted in the clean-up of the site, general maintenance and repainting walls; while a contractor was sourced to complete other renovations.
A new water tank was also installed to give access to clean drinking water.
BSP Community Project team leaders, Max Dobu and Luke Gumwatu, applauded the local villagers for taking ownership and volunteering to help to complete the project.
“We can see how important this project is, for the community, and we are proud to be making a difference through our project. The project will go a long way in providing a clean and safe building to attend to child births,” said Dobu.
The birth houses will be handed back to the community later this month.
The birth houses were built 1991 under the Village Birth Attendant Program initiated by the Provincial Health Office and United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) with the aim of reducing infant and maternal Mortality.
BSP has completed and delivered 9 Community projects out of 48 projects planned for 2017. The Bank has delivered 287 community projects since 2009, worth over K6.7 Million.