sanitation

The WASH Program funded by Australian Government’s Water for Women fund was aimed to deliver improved health outcomes through inclusive and equitable water, sanitation and hygiene across Papua New Guinea.The Community Health Worker who runs the facility, Lawrence Yasaking, would usually dig out pits for disposal and burning of clinical wastes.

“Patients were using pit toilets until the toilets were accidentally burnt down due to bush fire, the health facility lacked proper toilets and patients started open defecating in the bushes and near the river”. Said Yasaking.

The grants will fund water and sanitation, road, child counselling and farming projects based in Central and South Bougainville.

Grants up to K100,000 each were signed on Friday in Arawa and given to nine communities based in Central and South Bougainville, including Bana, Buin, Kieta, Siwai, Panguna and Torokina.

The projects are supported through Bougainville Community Grants scheme, a partnership between the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and Australia.  

Minister for Planning and Implementation, Richard Maru said such statistics are alarming and is unacceptable.

Maru said one of the primary reasons behind the poor statistics is that PNG does not have a coordinated structure, and has lacked the policy in the past to drive the growth of water and sanitation sector.

However, he said the last O’Neill-Dion Government had enacted the new PNG National Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) Policy to address this issue.

The small study of 20 people found using water at 15C (59F) left hands as clean as water heated to 38C (100F) .

The report, in the Journal of Food Protection, suggests this could help cut electricity bills in restaurants.

NHS advice recommends that people wash their hands in either cold or warm water.

'Bug removal'

In this study, scientists at Rutgers University-New Brunswick wanted to find out if popular assumptions about the benefits of warm or hot water and official guidance on hot water - given to the food industry in the US - held true.