Australia supports water supply project for Sulagwalu community in North Malaita

The Australian High Commission is pleased to announce its support for the Sulagwalu Water Projects through the Direct Aid Program (DAP).

The Sulagwalu Water Project has provided clean drinking water to a community of 300 people in North Malaita. Australia provided $30,000 for the construction of the water supply.

Australian Deputy High Commissioner, Ms Alison Duncan and Second Secretary, Hannah Churton, visited the project during a recent trip to Malaita.

Ms Duncan said Australia was pleased to be able to assist community groups and organisations from all over Solomon Islands to enhance skills, improve living standards and build community confidence through the Direct Aid Program.

“Every projects, in its own small way, helps Solomon Islands as a whole to become a more peaceful, self-confident and prosperous nation”, she said.

On visiting the Sulagwalu water supply, Ms Duncan saw how the community had used local innovation to construct the water supply, which had taken a number of years to complete. Before the project, women in the village had to walk long distances to access clean water.

The Direct Aid Program (DAP) is a small grants program designed to help community groups improve their living standards. DAP will provide SB$500 000 for 30 community projects across Solomon Islands this year.

The High Commission welcomes DAP applications from communities that need a helping hand to achieve their goals.

Source: Solomon Star

World TB day commemorated at Malu'u, North Malaita

By Lensley Kwaimani, Malu'u

World TB Day was celebrated at Malu’u, North Malaita yesterday.

Kemuel Iro and Eddie Lofimanu from Kilu’ufi Hospital led the celebrations here.

According to Mr Iro, they preferred to hold the celebrations yesterday to suit the community’s busy schedule.

World TB Day was marked around he world on Tuesday.

At yesterday’s event TB Coordinator for North Malaita Lawrence Irobaea said this is the first time ever for such programme to be commemorated in the entire region.

He said this should be an opportunity for people there to be alerted to the issue of TB and how great the problem is and to try and convince policy makers and leaders to join in the fight against the disease.

Mr Irobaea said the theme for this year’s World TB Day is “We Simply Must Stop TB”.

He said the theme calls on all people to make their contributions in trying to stop the spread of TB.

He said TB is preventable and can be defeated if we all put our heads and hands together.

Mr Irobaea called on the policy makers to allocate adequate funding and other resources towards the battle against the disease.

And he urged Health Care Providers to efficiently inform communities on what is TB.

Mr Irobaea said communities must help suspected TB patients to consult health workers for investigations.

He said families must make sure anyone who’s coughing for more than three weeks needs to be tested for TB.

And patients are asked to make sure that TB medicines are taken daily.

Mr Irobaea said Malaita Province recorded more than 100 cases of TB last year, the majority of which was from the central region between Sisifiu and Hauhui.

This was followed by the northern region, Ata’a to Arao.

He said Malaita Province still had the highest number of TB cases in the Solomon Islands and even in the Pacific region.

He said in the Malu’u Area Health Centre catchment area, 11 cases were recorded last year.

Mr Irobaea also said the National TB Control Programme plans to reduce the number of TB cases and deaths by half in 2010.

“This is not easy as we have only a year to go, but we need the collaborative efforts of the Government and the general public to combat this public health problem.

“In order for us to achieve this goal we need to improve and strengthen our two important objectives.

“First we must ensure that more than 70 per cent of suspected sputum smears positive cases in the communities are detected and put on TB treatment.

“Secondly, for all cases detected we must ensure to cure more than 85 per cent of them,” he said.

Mr Irobaea said at the national level, the case detection rate is 48%.

“This is very low compared to the 70 per cent target. This increasing trend indicates that TB is still prevalent and on the run in many of our communities.

“If we continue to run the race against TB in this space, then certainly we are losing the race.

“We need more collective efforts from all stakeholders to detect these sputum smears positive cases, and the only way to stop TB is to put them on treatment.”

In his keynote address, Principal of Malu’u Nurse Aide Training School, John Muaki said he is greatly honoured to be invited to present at the gathering.

“We stand and join those around the world who have celebrated the day with our efforts together to stand and fight against this disease called TB,” Mr Muaki said.

He encouraged those that gathered to practice good health practices, having good ventilated homes, and eat good food to prevent TB.

Source: Solomon Star

Australia supports solar projects in North Malaita

Australia is helping Solomon Islands to benefit from renewable energy, by supporting solar energy projects in Malaita.

The Australian Deputy High Commissioner, Ms Alison Duncan, officially handed over a Solar Energy Project to Kafoburasi Village in North Malaita last week. The project was funded by the Australian Government's Community Sector Program.

The Australian Government donated $90,000 for two solar charge stations and batteries which were given to the members of Kafoburasi communities. Village elders, women and youth representatives thanked the Australian Government and its Community Sector Program for the generous support to community members and highly commended the strong partnership Australian Government has made through CSP with the people of Malaita and for the support the program has given to Kafoburasi and other communities within Northern Region.

The women of Kafoburasi said the solar project would make it easier for children to do their homework and would save time and money for households who no longer had to buy expensive fuel for lighting at home.

The equipment was installed by Willies Electrics who also provided training in the use, care and maintenance of the equipment and donated an additional battery and lights to the community. Kafoburasi community contributed labour and materials. Kafoburiasi is one of 10 villages in Malaita, and 47 villages across the country, that took part in a pilot project focusing on participatory planning and capacity building and has been working in partnership with Australia's Community Sector Program for two years. With support from the Community Sector Program, the village has produced a development plan and participated in a series of training activities aimed at improving village planning and management.

Ms Duncan was Guest of Honour at the hand-over ceremony on 3 March which was also attended by Second Secretary from the Australian High Commission, Ms Hannah Churton, Provincial Government officers and representatives from CSP.

Source: Solomon Times

New Testament Bible being translated into Malaita's Baegu and Mbaelelea languages

Work is underway to translate the New Testament Bible from English to the languages of Baegu and Mbaelelea in the northern region of Malaita.

Translation work in the two languages started in September last year and is expected to be completed in 2010.

The person leading the translation team for the Mbaelelea language, Aloysious Jack,
says translation of the Bible into local language requires a lot of cooperative effort.

He encourages people of Baegu and Mbaelelea to join literacy classes that are being conducted in their areas so that they can learn how to read and write.

"I want to encourage everyone to join in, and learn how to read and write so that when the Bible is released, they can read it because it is in their languages and they can understand and know it is the word of God to help them in their lives".

Source: SIBC

Solomon Islander accepted for United Nations roster

In 2008 a UN Competitive Recruitment Examinations in the occupational field Information Technology, Human Rights, Finance, Programme Evaluation, Political Affairs and Environment was held in Honiara.

The UN Secretariat in New York confirmed that selection process for two of the occupational fields of Human Rights and Information Technology has been completed.

A Solomon Islands national, Lynnold Wini, an Information Technology Graduate from USP and an employee of Solomon Telekom has been successful and is now on the UN roster for possible employment in one of the UN Secretariat around the world.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs congratulates Mr. Wini and hope his achievement will encourage young Solomon Islanders to seek employment opportunities with the United Nations.

The Ministry wish to assure those applying for the other categories namely Finance, Programme Evaluation, Political Affairs and Environment that marking and processing of applicants is still in progress and will be announced at the appropriate time.

Solomon Islands has yet to fill its UN employment quota.

The Ministry has been promoting UN employment opportunities and it is heartened by Mr. Wini's success and wishes him well on his future international posting.

Source: Solomon Times