In partnership with the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, the World Health Organization provided additional laboratory supplies to Papua New Guinea to scale up testing for COVID-19.
The supplies comprised 1,740 GeneXpert cartridges — adding to the more than 3,100 such cartridges already delivered to Papua New Guinea — and 25 000 Universal Transport Medium (UTM).
Papua New Guinea now has the supplies to test for COVID-19 in all provinces.
The GeneXpert cartridges were jointly funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand, the Pacific Community, the Pacific Island Health Officers Association and WHO.
The supplies were transported to Papua New Guinea through Australia’s Pacific Corridor, which is ensuring essential services and supplies can reach the Pacific.
WHO intends to continue supporting the delivering supplies and providing technical assistance to the country.