Vanuatu

In a Profiling exercise that took well over a week into four islands in the Torres group from March to April, a team comprising of 4 members conducted the Area Council Profiling exercise.

David Niare and Mathias Nakat have been selected as top 2 from other Para athletes to join with other para athletes in Port Vila to travelled to Australia for the games.

David will be competing in the Throwing Event- Shotput and Javeline while Mathias will compete un the 100M and 200M running event.

The two participants have confirmed that this will be there first time to participate in such game and a first time to experience travelling overseas.

"We are hoping for the best results", they said.

 This is a dream come true for the students to have access to clean water.

 Mr. Daniel Redley, a Teacher at the Tassiriki Primary School gladly offered his boat to help transport the brand new 10,000 liter water tank plus 12 bags of cement, which was used to build the foundation for the tank.

The water tank was funded by the New Zealand High Commission in Vanuatu.

Moso Island is an island off the northwest coast of Efate and there are no rivers or lakes, and rain water collected into tanks like this is the primary source of drinking water.

The ministry said there had been an increase in vaccine preventable diseases this year.

Recent testing done in New Caledonia revealed two children, aged 11 and 13, had diphtheria, which can be fatal if not treated, it said.

Diphtheria is easily spread from person to person through coughing and sneezing and close physical contact.

Once identified the disease can be treated with antibiotics.

Rotary Club Vanuatu stated that the program will start tomorrow Tuesday 16 April 2019 in Port Vila.

“We will be establishing four sites around central Port Vila to enable the FREE testing to take place”

It is hope that 5,000 free tests will be conducted in Port Vila during this time with follow up consultation ad advice offered to those who have poor test result.

Rotary Vanuatu confirmed that the FREE testing program has been made possible from funds earned be selling tickets during the 2017 Pacific Mini Games at Korman sport complex in Port Vila.

The deal was signed by Vanuatu's prime minister Charlot Salwai and New Caledonia's president Philippe Germain in Port Vila on Friday.

Air Vanuatu's chief executive Derek Nice said it would allow the airline to increase flights and the size of aircraft used.

The airline's New Caledonia passenger traffic has overtaken New Zealand for second place behind Australia.

Mr Nice said it was set to grow further with new routes beyond the existing Port Vila-Noumea flights.

The migrants, who include two minors, have been stuck in the remote Pacific island nation since November when four people were arrested on charges of trafficking them, and are living off handouts and rations.

Details of their plight emerged last month and the government has asked its nearest high commission in Australia to verify that they are Bangladeshi.

"They will send a team to Vanuatu and begin the national verification soon," home ministry official Abu Bakar Siddique told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, saying it was a first step towards bringing them home.

The Vanuatu parliament ratified the Paris Climate change agreement on June 18th, 2016 and submitted our Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and emission reduction targets to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).

Vanuatu’s NDC mitigation target is transitioning close to 100% renewable energy in the electricity (energy) sector by 2030.

The NDC Implementation Roadmap aims at providing a pathway for the implementation of specific climate change mitigation actions in Vanuatu which can assist in achieving the target defined in Vanuatu’s NDC.

The kits will be used towards achieving the goal of tackling the “double burden of disease” (stunting in children and obesity in adults) in Vanuatu by encouraging more nutritious foods in Pacific-appropriate portions for children, pregnant women and adults through simple but effective messaging.

 ‘Ademap Kala’ literally means that adding color to a meal will increase its nutritional value for anyone, a message which is easily understood by young and old with any level of literacy.

They met with a group of school children, the local water committee, and members of the community to discuss ways in which the community can improve their water access, water quality, and hygiene practices.

There was a special focus on hand-washing and the community had the chance to build several hand-washing stations or “tippy taps.”

 The bamboo design stood out as the favorite.