GLIDE no. EP-2009-000185-PNG
The International Federation's Disaster
Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) is a source of un-earmarked money created
by the Federation in 1985 to ensure that immediate financial support is
available for Red Cross and Red Crescent response to emergencies. The DREF
is a vital part of the International Federation's disaster response system
and increases the ability of national societies to respond to disasters.
Period covered by this update: 7 September to 7 October 2009.
Summary: The Federation's Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) extension has been granted for CHF 359,058 to the Papua New Guinea Red Cross Society on 7 October 2009 to directly reach 300,000 people in 13 out of 20 provinces.
Initially, CHF 43,878 (USD 41,339 or EUR 28,923) was allocated from DREF to support Papua New Guinea Red Cross Society (PNGRCS) in delivering immediate assistance to some 5,000 beneficiaries on 7 September 2009 in response to the outbreak. Unearmarked funds to repay DREF are encouraged.
PNGRCS will continue to meet the needs of the people affected by extending the existing DREF and implementing a strategy that includes hygiene information dissemination and community awareness to minimize or contain the spread of cholera, dysentery and influenza over a three-month timeframe. Recent developments include increasing the scope and the budget for this operation, which will now directly reach approximately 300,000 people, and indirectly reach 2.4 million people. The budget for the operation has been significantly increased and is now approximately CHF 359,058 (USD 348,498 or EUR 237,112).
This operation is expected to be implemented in three months, and completed by 7 January 2010. In line with Federation reporting standards, the narrative and financial final reports will be posted 90 days after the end of the operation (by April 2010).
Major donors and partners of the DREF include the Danish Red Cross, Irish Red Cross/Irish government, Japanese Red Cross, Monaco Red Cross/Monaco government, Netherlands Red Cross/Netherlands government, Norwegian Red Cross/Norwegian government, Swedish Red Cross/Swedish government, Italian government, United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), ECHO, OPEC Fund for International Development, and corporate and private donors. Details of all donors can be found here. The International Federation, on behalf of the Papua New Guinea Red Cross Society, would like to thank all donors for their generous contributions.
The situation
The Papua New Guinea National Government
has declared a state of emergency in Morobe province
following the cholera, dysentery and
influenza outbreak on 11 September 2009. The provincial authorities,
with assistance of the national department
of health and partner agencies, established a provincial outbreak
response committee (PORC) comprising
representatives of the relevant national and provincial authorities
and co-chaired by the provincial health
advisor and the provincial health director. The co-chairs operate the
coordination and command centre at the
Lae provincial health office, Morobe Province, with the support of
World Health Organization (WHO).
The government, the PNGRCS and other
organizations reacted immediately but due to the magnitude of the
disaster, there is a need for additional
support. The PNGRCS has been coping with the disaster at every
level from volunteers to district, to
provincial and national levels.
Over this reporting period, following
a deterioration of the outbreak situation, the PNGRCS national
headquarters requested support for a
joint assessment from the International Federation and Australian Red
Cross (ARC). Then, an assessment team
was constituted with three representatives from PNGRCS' national
headquarters, PNGRCS Morobe branch,
two Australian Red Cross delegates and one disaster response
delegate from the International Federation.
The purpose of the assessment team's visit to the affected areas
in Morobe is to further analyze the
outbreak situation in the province, and to identify urgent and priority
needs of the most vulnerable people
affected by cholera, dysentery and influenza.
Although the number of newly reported
cases per week has decreased since the beginning of the outbreak,
it is still likely that the outbreak
may continue to spread, and become worse if prevention efforts are not
scaled up.
PNGRCS, in discussion with the national
government, have developed an action plan for October-December
2009 in response to the outbreaks. The
plan of action includes the following sectors: coordination;
surveillance; case management, infection
control and training for health staff; logistics; water and sanitation,
and environmental activities; and communication
for information, education and communication materials
and general awareness.