Red Cross

The set up at the APEC Haus is a series of events in lead up to World Environment Day, which falls on Sunday, June 5^th.

They are involving volunteers to plant 20'000 mangroves in the Bootless Bay next month with their main partner the Nature Conservancy. Manning the booth is Jimmy Matapi Peter, Chairperson of the Red Cross and the Lead in the Bootless Bay Alliance. 

Concerted international action is necessary to help Papua New Guinea (PNG) deal with a record surge in COVID-19 cases that is overwhelming the country’s health system, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has said.

The latest wave of COVID-19 has seen PNG report the highest number of daily cases since the pandemic began in March 2020.

The country reported 376 new cases on Saturday and is dealing with nearly 3,000 active cases of the disease, according to the latest government data.

This year the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is recognising the roles staff and volunteers have played in reaching and supporting people affected by COVID-19, especially in places of detention, remote parts of Papua New Guinea and hospitals in provinces where the PNGRCS volunteers are actively working.

In PNG, with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Red Cross staff and volunteers have supported local communities through awareness raising on prevention measures and providing hygiene and sanitation assistance for communities.

Two ICRC offices will close and a third will see operations scaled down.

The ICRC country head said the "painful decision" meant people in the north would no longer get help they needed.

She stressed the Red Cross would not leave Afghanistan, but said the organisation had to limit the risks faced by its staff.

Many other humanitarian organisations have pulled out of Afghanistan in recent years as Taliban and so-called Islamic State militants have stepped up attacks.

 Officially launched by NCD Governor Powes Parkop last week, two primary schools, Lontis Primary School and Petats primary, are the first two schools to have little doctors.

The Little Doctors concept is similar to the ones first introduced in India and Bangladesh and recently in Indonesia, in the aftermath of tsunamis that devastated these countries.

The patients, who are being treated in hospital in nearby Irbil, are "showing clinical symptoms consistent with an exposure to a blistering chemical agent," said Robert Mardini, the organization's regional director for the Middle East.

The five children, three women and four men have symptoms that include blisters, coughing, redness in the eyes, irritation, and vomiting.

"Thousands of people in Louisiana have lost everything they own and need our help now," said Brad Kieserman, the Red Cross' vice president of disaster services operations and logistics.

The country had spent much of Saturday in lockdown, with transport cancelled and nationwide curfew and state of emergency declared by the government.

Already there are initial reports of severe damage across the country, with reports of houses being flattened and heavy swells washing away sea walls.

Unconfirmed reports suggest one person died when they were struck by falling debris on Koro island, according to local media, but a police spokesperson was unable to confirm reports.