Port Moresby, Apr 20 (UNI) More than fifty days after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit Papua New Guinea (PNG), limited delivery of essential health services has resumed in earthquake-affected provinces.

However, thousands remain vulnerable to health threats as they continue to live in crowded temporary settlements with inadequate access to clean water and medical services.

More than 5,00,000 were affected by the earthquake that struck on February 26. At least 25,000 people have been displaced, while many communities continue to face compromised water and food supplies,
significantly increasing threats of disease outbreaks, a WHO Western Pacific Region report on Friday said.

Of the 77 health facilities that were damaged by the earthquake, only ten remain closed. However, services remain limited at most of the re-opened health facilities.
The World Health Organization (WHO) was on the ground in the affected provinces within 24 hours of the earthquake. WHO immediately activated the Incident Management System to coordinate the Organization’s response.

“WHO responded right away, deploying medicines and supplies to the earthquake-affected areas to treat those who were affected”, said Dr Zhang Zaixing, Incident Manager from WHO. “Our people were out there
in the field, alongside the National Department of Health and partners, assessing the damage to health facilities and working to re-establish life-saving health services.”

WHO has designated the earthquake a Grade 1 Emergency and has deployed additional staff and supplies to the Country Office in PNG.
To date, WHO has repurposed and mobilized 19 national and international staff for the earthquake response, covering areas such as partner coordination, epidemiology, surveillance, information management, health operations, mental health, risk communication, administration and logistics.
WHO also delivered an Inter-Agency Emergency Health Kit containing essential medicines, supplies and equipment for 10 000 people for approximately 3 months. Diarrhoeal disease kits were pre-positioned in
the country to help prepare for a potential outbreak and surgical supplies were sent to Tari and Mendi Hospitals.

Within 48 hours of the earthquake, the Health Cluster was activated at the national level in Port Moresby. Twenty five partner agencies are now working together to address the immediate medical needs of the affected populations.
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