The Vanuatu Daily Post reports on valuable disaster preparedness work Caritas Australia is supporting in the Solomon Islands.

Twenty Teachers from kindergartens around Efate, Solomon Islands, spent a week learning what to do if there is a tsunami, earthquake, flood or cyclone.

The training, called ‘Disaster Risk Management for Early Childhood Education’, was funded and conducted by Caritas Solomon to teach these early childhood teachers the right response during disasters in the future.

Posted at 03:29 on 21 May, 2013 UTC

Residents of Santa Cruz island in the Solomon Islands province hit by earthquakes and a tsunami in February have been forced to return to their flattened coastal settlement.

Read the full article on Radio New Zealand International

There's hope in Solomon Islands that the worst of the country's dengue outbreak is now over. .

The National Referral Hospital in Honiara says they've recorded a 50 per cent drop in dengue admissions since the outbreak started.

Although there's still concern about whether the hospital's blood bank has enough supplies to cope with such an outbreak.

So far the number of dengue-related deaths stands at six.

Presenter: Richard Ewart

Speaker: Alfred Dofai, director, National Medical Laboratory, Solomon Islands

AusAID Director General Peter Baxter visited Solomon Islands’ National Referral Hospital this week to meet the Australian medical team assisting local health authorities to combat a major outbreak of dengue fever.

Health officials estimate there have been more than 3,700 cases of suspected dengue since late January, putting significant strain on the country’s health resources.

The dengue outbreak in the Solomon Islands continues to spread, and health authorities are struggling to find sufficient money to help combat the epidemic.

A fourth death has now been reported, along with a sharp increase in cases of the mosquito-borne disease.

Presenter:Geraldine Cootes

Speaker: Dr Lester Ross, Permanent Secretary for the Solomon Islands Ministry of Health

Listen to the story

15 Apr 2013 - Since January 2013, approximately 1,970 suspected and confirmed dengue cases and three deaths have been reported. More than 1,800 of the cases were reported in Honiara. The others are in Gizo in Western Province and in Guadalcanal Province.

Link: Dengue Fever Outbreak: Information Bulletin n° 1

It's been more than four months since the first outbreak of dengue fever was reported in Solomon Islands.

Solomons dengue outbreak blamed on unusual virus strain (Credit: ABC)

Since then, the virus has continued to spread, and as of last week, there were more than 2,500 suspected cases.

HONIARA, Solomon Islands, Apr 8 2013 (IPS) - The Solomon Islands, a developing island nation in the south-west Pacific Islands, has one of the highest urbanisation rates in the region, and the basic service infrastructure is struggling to cater for the influx of people from the provinces to the capital, Honiara. Thirty-five percent of the city’s population, who live in informal settlements, are facing the health consequences of a dire shortage of clean water and sanitation.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr today announced that Australia has sent a medical team to Solomon Islands to assist with the dengue fever outbreak.

Senator Carr said the Australian Government has agreed to provide the National Referral Hospital in Honiara and provincial hospitals with additional staff following a request for assistance from the Solomon Islands Government.

"An initial assessment team were deployed to Solomon Islands earlier this week to evaluate the situation," Senator Carr said.